Posted on 02.08.2023 at 10:58 am by Linda Manga
The Gabonese Elections Center validated during its plenary assembly held on July 31, 2023, the use of a single ballot for the legislative elections and the presidential election of August 26, 2023.
As the members of the opposition parties wished, the candidates for the legislative elections and the presidential election will have a single ballot. That is to say a ballot combining the two single-member ballots. Indeed, the single ballot paper will be a sheet of paper on which will appear both the presidential candidate of a political party as well as that of the legislative elections of the constituency concerned of the same party. And in the event that the political party does not have a presidential candidate, there will only be its candidate for the legislative elections in the said constituency on the ballot.
During the General Assembly, the president of the CGE, Michel Stéphane Bonda, explained that “The modality of adopting a single ballot for the two types of elections in the single-member ballot and by political party to vote for the President of the Republic and the deputies in the National Assembly on August 26, 2023, however unusual it may seem , will establish itself as a real opportunity for voters through the acquisition of a new tool to facilitate the electoral system”. Hope Michel Stéphane Bonda who is convinced that this option “will prevent all the shortcomings and asperities likely to thwart the proper administration of the general elections of 2023”.
It should be remembered that this new measure has many advantages, in particular: the reduction not only of the abstention rate and invalid votes due to poor handling, but also financial savings insofar as there will be fewer ballots to be printed and less important to transport them. There is also a simplification of the vote which should lead to time savings in the voting process.
