Transitional leader advises citizens to back draft charter, which proposes modifications that consist of governmental term limitations.
Gabon is enacting a referendum on whether to embrace a brand-new constitution that would lead the way to democratic guideline after the military deposed President Ali Bongo Ondimba in 2015, ending 55 years of guideline by his household in the oil-rich country.
An approximated 860,000 signed up citizens were anticipated to cast their tallies on Saturday on the draft charter, which proposes sweeping modifications in the Central African country that might avoid dynastic guideline and sets governmental term limitations.
The proposed constitution requires more than 50 percent of votes to be embraced.
“We have a date with history,” General Brice Oligui Nguema, the transitional president who led the coup in 2015, stated in a post on social networks platform X along with an image of him in civilian gown and baseball cap, with a ballot card in his hand.
Nguema has actually been prompting citizens to support the brand-new constitution, which he states embodies the military federal government’s dedication to charting a brand-new course for Gabon.
He has actually assured to hand power back to civilians after a two-year shift however has actually made obvious of his desire to win the governmental election arranged for August 2025.
The referendum is viewed as an essential primary step as the nation looks for to shift to democracy given that Bongo’s ouster in August 2023. He had actually governed given that 2009, taking control of the presidency from his daddy, Omar, who passed away that year after ruling the nation considering that 1967.
Bongo was toppled minutes after being declared the winner in an election the army and opposition stated deceptive.
A brand-new constitution would present two-term limitations on the presidency, eliminate the position of prime minister and acknowledge French as Gabon’s working language. It likewise states relative can not prosper a president.
The governmental term would be set at 7 years. The existing charter permits five-year terms eco-friendly without limitation.
Nathalie Badzoko, a 33-year-old civil servant, informed the AFP news firm that she was voting “yes” and trusted the military federal government, however confessed she had “not check out the entire text” and its 173 short articles.
Challengers dismissed the draft charter as custom-made for a strongman to stay in power.
“We are developing a totalitarian who creates the constitution for himself,” attorney Marlene Fabienne Essola Efountame stated throughout a dispute last Sunday, arranged by state tv.
Nguema, the interim leader, is a cousin of Bongo. He had actually acted as a bodyguard to Bongo’s dad and likewise headed the Gabonese Republican Guard, an elite military system.
Ballot started late at a number of ballot stations in the capital, Libreville, consisting of at the Lycee Leon M’Ba school where green– for yes– and red– for no– tally documents were still being distributed when the surveys opened at 7am (06:00 GMT), according to AFP.
The nation’s 2,835 ballot stations are because of stay open till 6pm (17:00 GMT).
The results will be revealed by the constitutional court, the Interior Ministry stated.
The previous French nest belongs to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), however its oil wealth is focused in the hands of a couple of. Almost 40 percent of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 ran out operate in 2020, according to the World Bank.
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Al Jazeera and news companies