Gabon’s ruling party has just won over half of the parliamentary seats in the first round of legislative elections in a vote marred by low turnout, the elections committee said.
Headed by President Ali Bongo, the Gabonese Democratic Party won seventy-four of the one hundred and forty-three seats in long-delayed parliamentary elections.
Turnout was low, with just over fifty-eight percent of voters casting their ballots across the nation, an election committee statement said.
Campaigning for the second round began on Saturday with the vote to be held in sixty-one constituencies on October 27.
The October 6 vote, which also included municipal polls, was the first election since a presidential race two years ago which was marred by deadly violence and fraud allegations.
Gabon has been ruled by the same political dynasty for nearly half a century.
African Union observers described the election as “satisfactory” and without irregularities, but three civil society organizations complained that there had been attempts to buy votes.
