Gabon is preparing to hold general elections, including presidential, legislative, and municipal elections, on August 26th. According to the Minister of State in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, Lambert-Noël Matha, over 846,000 voters are expected to exercise their right to vote.
During an official ceremony to hand over electoral materials to the President of the Gabonese Elections Center (CGE), Lambert-Noël Matha revealed that 846,822 voters will go to the polls on August 26th. Among them, 830,729 voters reside within the national territory, while 16,093 are registered abroad. These figures represent a considerable increase compared to the last electoral revision in 2018, which recorded 688,702 voters.
The Minister of State explained that this increase is partly due to the registration of first-time voters, i.e., young people who reached the age of 18 between 2019 and 2023. Additionally, some citizens who had exceeded the voting age but had never been registered also enrolled this time, contributing to the expansion of the electoral roll.
The electoral campaign for the election of the President of the Gabonese Republic will begin on August 11th, giving candidates the opportunity to present their programs and seek the support of voters.
Despite the large number of candidates running, with 19 candidacies approved for the presidential election, some actors from civil society, wise men, and even opposition political parties believe that the electoral process is not well underway and have expressed their wish to see the vote postponed. However, with over 846,000 voters ready to participate in the election, the elections on August 26th promise to be a crucial moment in Gabon’s political life. The country’s citizens will have the opportunity to decide the future of their nation by electing their leaders for the years to come.
