Gabon 2014

Yearbook 2014

Gabon. In January, President Ali Ben Bongo appointed Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Daniel Ona Ondo as Prime Minister. Ondo has previously served as Minister of Education and Culture.

Although presidential elections are not held until 2016, some possible candidates began to position themselves.  Gabon population in 2020 is estimated at 2,225,745. Former Commission President Jean Ping announced that he was considering a candidacy. Ping, who was foreign minister for nine years when Bongo’s father Omar was president, emphasized that the opposition needed to unite.

According to topb2bwebsites, another veteran of the ruling party PDG (Gabon’s Democratic Party), former Secretary-General Jacques Adiahenot left the party in March. The message was the culmination of a protracted conflict between Adiahenot and the President’s supporters.

A book by French writer Pierre Péan fueled the opposition. In “Nouvelle Affaires Africaine” (“New African Business”) released in October, Péan claims that Bongo has Nigerian outrage and that during the Biafra war he was taken to Gabon where he was adopted by the then president. The Constitution forbids foreign-born to be president. The government is considering suing Péan. In November, opposition members met with police as they headed to court to demand that Bongo present his birth certificate.