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An overwhelming majority of Gabonese individuals have voted for a brand new structure, navy authorities say, in a transfer that marks a brand new section for the nation following final 12 months’s coup.
Provisional outcomes confirmed 92% of voters backed the brand new structure, in accordance with the nation’s electoral physique.
The consequence units the stage for a transition to civilian rule, though critics say it’s designed to permit coup chief Brice Oligui Nguema to stay in energy.
Nguema is but to overtly say whether or not he’ll run within the election.
Voter turnout was estimated at 54%, in accordance with the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI). There had been no critical incidents reported throughout Saturday’s vote.
The last outcomes can be introduced by the Constitutional Court.
As he voted, the navy chief hailed the referendum as a “great step forward”, including that Gabonese had been “coming to vote in a transparent fashion”.
Prior to the vote, the transitional authorities described it as an important step in the direction of the return to constitutional order within the oil-rich nation.
The referendum paves the way in which for the holding of elections tentatively scheduled for August subsequent 12 months – two years after Nguema took energy to topple President Ali Bongo Odimba, whose household had dominated the nation for many years.
The draft structure establishes a seven-year time period, renewable as soon as, changing a 5 year-term that had no limits and which allowed for dynastic rule.
It additionally bars members of a president’s household from operating for the nation’s high job and in addition requires candidates to be solely Gabonese and have a Gabonese partner.
This successfully bars the deposed chief, who’s married to a French girl.
It is being seen as an try to finish the household succession phenomenon engineered by the Bongo household, which maintained a 55-year dynasty.
Bongo had dominated for 14 years earlier than he was toppled. He took workplace after the loss of life of his father who had been president for 41 years.
The new regulation removes the prime minister’s place and introduces two vice-president roles.
While some have hailed the draft regulation, others have warned it may focus an excessive amount of energy within the presidency.
Despite Gabon’s oil wealth and huge forests, one third of its 2.4 million individuals stay beneath the poverty line, in accordance with the UN.
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