Libreville, Friday August 11, 2023 (Infos Gabon) – The 19 candidates began their campaign this Friday to present their social project to voters. An operation that requires respect for democratic principles and to show fair play in order to preserve unity and live together among Gabonese.
It started this Friday with the official start of the electoral campaign for the presidential election scheduled for August 26th. There are a total of nineteen figures from the Gabonese political scene in the race for the votes of the Gabonese people. These are seventeen men and two women including the outgoing president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, who will seduce Gabonese inside and outside until August 25th.
According to the electoral file transmitted on July 30 by the Minister of State, Minister of the Interior, Lambert-Noël Matha, to the President of the Gabonese Election Center (CGE), Michel Stéphane Bonda, following the enrollment operation organized from May 9 to June 11, a total of 846,822 voters are targeted by the candidates. That is 830,729 voters on the national territory and 16,993 others in the diaspora. Gabon must therefore experience two intense weeks of electoral contests, especially since this is a great first in its history. Because, in addition to the presidential election, the country of Léon Mba will also organize this same August 26, 2023 legislative and local elections. As for the electoral campaign for the legislative and local elections, it will be officially launched on August 15th.
Advocate for fair play
But, beyond the fact that it is an electoral campaign which, in the end, will grant some a position of President of the Republic, deputy or local councillor, where others go lose, not necessarily because they will have failed, but because it is democracy, it is appropriate to launch an appeal for more patriotism. Because, whatever the camp or the candidate who will win, it is Gabon who will emerge victorious from this election. Especially since the country which, for the first time, is experimenting with general elections with three ballots put together in one, intends to take up the challenge of its political maturity and join the ranks of democratic nations. Clearly, invectives, denigration of the adversary, street fights and low blows have no place in this arena where only realistic social projects whose objective is to improve the living conditions of Gabonese count to seduce the electors. No offense to those for whom, “in politics, all blows are allowed, even the lowest”. Whether on the side of the majority or the operation, it should be remembered that life in Gabon will not stop with these elections. On the contrary, they mark a stage in its history during which the Gabonese are called upon to show political maturity.
In Gabon, almost everyone is of the opinion that the sad events of 2016 must be put away for good. In view of their harmful consequences on peace, unity and living together, three ideals so dear to Gabon which since its independence has remained a haven of peace in an Africa regularly shaken by many upheavals. It is therefore a question of inviting everyone to exercise more restraint and a democratic spirit.
FIN/INFOSGABON/SM/2023
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