In Gabon, the future constitutional reform was voted on Thursday, March 23, by the Assembly. The text, resulting from the political consultations of February, provides for the alignment of political mandates over five years, the non-limitation of mandates, or the adoption of the ballot in one round for all elections. The text, voted by an overwhelming majority, must now pass before the Senate. But in Thursday’s vote, the opposition split.
Some opponents voted against the text and others abstained, further proof of the disagreements within the opposition, while the latter will have to propose a single presidential candidacy if it wants to win.
Thus, since January, opponents have displayed disagreements on several sensitive issues such as participation in the Gabonese Election Center, political consultations, or even the vote on constitutional reform.
“These differences allowed for clarification. Those who support the policy of power cannot claim to be from the opposition,” said Jean-Gaspard Ntoutoume Ayi, vice president of the National Union.
The opposition is therefore now fractured between its main forces: UN, PSD, or even RPM on one side, and PG41 and the Democrats on the other.