Historyedit

Pre-colonisationedit

Pygmy peoples in the area were largely replaced and absorbed by Bantu tribes as they migrated. By the 18th century, a Myeni-speaking kingdom known as the Kingdom of Orungu formed as a trading centre with the ability to purchase and sell slaves, and fell with the demise of the slave trade in the 1870s.

French rule and independenceedit

Explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza led his first mission to the Gabon-Congo area in 1875. He founded the town of Franceville and was later colonial governor. Some Bantu groups lived in the area when France officially occupied it in 1885.

In 1910, Gabon became a territory of French Equatorial Africa, a federation that survived until 1958. In World War II, the Allies invaded Gabon in order to overthrow the pro-Vichy France colonial administration. On 28 November 1958, Gabon became an autonomous republic within the French Community, and on 17 August 1960, it became fully independent.

Independenceedit

M'ba ruleedit

The first president of Gabon, elected in 1961, was Léon M'ba, with Omar Bongo Ondimba as his vice president. After M'ba's accession to power, the press was suppressed, political demonstrations suppressed, freedom of expression curtailed, other political parties gradually excluded from power, and the Constitution changed along French lines to vest power in the Presidency, a post that M'ba assumed himself. When M'ba dissolved the National Assembly in January 1964 to institute one-party rule, an army coup sought to oust him from power and restore parliamentary democracy. French paratroopers flew in within 24 hours to restore M'ba to power. After days of fighting, the coup ended and the opposition was imprisoned, with protests and riots.

Bongo rule and PDGedit

When M'Ba died in 1967, Bongo replaced him as president. In March 1968, Bongo declared Gabon a 1-party state by dissolving BDG and establishing a new party – the Parti Démocratique Gabonais (PDG). He invited all Gabonese, regardless of previous political affiliation, to participate. Bongo sought to forge a single national movement in support of the government's development policies, using PDG as a tool to submerge the regional and tribal rivalries that had divided Gabonese politics in the past. Bongo was elected president in February 1975; in April 1975, the position of vice president was abolished and replaced by the position of prime minister, who had no right to automatic succession. Bongo was re-elected President in December 1979 and November 1986 to 7-year terms.

In 1990, economic discontent and a desire for political liberalization provoked demonstrations and strikes by students and workers. In response to grievances by workers, Bongo negotiated with them on a sector-by-sector basis, making wage concessions. He promised to open up PDG and to organize a national political conference in March–April 1990 to discuss Gabon's future political system. PDG and 74 political organizations attended the conference. Participants essentially divided into 2 "loose" coalitions, ruling PDG and its allies, and the United Front of Opposition Associations and Parties, consisting of the breakaway Morena Fundamental and the Gabonese Progress Party.

Transitional government and RSDGedit

The April 1990 conference approved political reforms, including creation of a national Senate, decentralization of the budgetary process, freedom of assembly and press, and cancellation of an exit visa requirement. In an attempt to guide the political system's transformation to multiparty democracy, Bongo resigned as PDG chairman and created a transitional government headed by a new Prime Minister, Casimir Oye-Mba. The Gabonese Social Democratic Grouping (RSDG), as the resulting government was called, was smaller than the previous government and included representatives from some opposition parties in its cabinet. RSDG drafted a provisional constitution in May 1990 that provided a basic bill of rights and an independent judiciary and retained "strong" executive powers for the president. After further review by a constitutional committee and the National Assembly, this document came into force in March 1991.

Opposition to PDG continued after the April 1990 conference, and in September 1990, two coup d'état attempts were uncovered and aborted. With demonstrations after the death of an opposition leader, the first multiparty National Assembly elections in almost 30 years took place in September–October 1990, with PDG garnering a majority.

Bongo's re-election and ruleedit

Following President Omar Bongo's re-election in December 1993 with 51% of the vote, opposition candidates refused to validate the election results. Civil disturbances and violent repression led to an agreement between the government and opposition factions to work toward a political settlement. These talks led to the Paris Accords in November 1994, under which some opposition figures were included in a government of national unity. This arrangement broke down and the 1996 and 1997 legislative and municipal elections provided the background for renewed partisan politics. PDG won in the legislative election, and some cities, including Libreville, elected opposition mayors during the 1997 local election.

Boycott of elections and crisisedit

Facing a divided opposition, President Omar Bongo coasted to re-election in December 1998. While some of Bongo's opponents rejected the outcome as fraudulent, some international observers characterized the results as representative "despite many perceived irregularities". Legislative elections held in 2001–2002 were boycotted by a number of smaller opposition parties and were criticized for their administrative weaknesses, produced a National Assembly dominated by PDG and allied independents. In November 2005 President Omar Bongo was elected for his sixth term. He won re-election, and opponents claim that the balloting process was marred by irregularities. There were some instances of violence following the announcement of his win. National Assembly elections were held in December 2006. Some seats contested because of voting irregularities were overturned by the Constitutional Court, and the subsequent run-off elections in 2007 yielded a PDG-controlled National Assembly.

Death of Bongo and successionedit

Following the passing of President Omar Bongo on 8 June 2009 due to cardiac arrest at a Spanish hospital in Barcelona, Gabon entered a period of political transition. Per the amended constitution, Rose Francine Rogombé, the President of the Senate, assumed the role of Interim President on 10 June 2009. The subsequent presidential elections, held on 30 August 2009, marked a historic moment as they were the first in Gabon's history not to feature Omar Bongo as a candidate. With a crowded field of 18 contenders, including Omar Bongo's son and ruling party leader, Ali Bongo, the elections were closely watched both domestically and internationally.

After a rigorous three-week review by the Constitutional Court, Ali Bongo was officially declared the winner, leading to his inauguration on 16 October 2009. However, the announcement of his victory was met with skepticism by some opposition candidates, sparking sporadic protests across the country. Nowhere was this discontent more pronounced than in Port-Gentil, where allegations of electoral fraud resulted in violent demonstrations. The unrest claimed four lives and led to significant property damage, including attacks on the French Consulate and a local prison. Subsequently, security forces were deployed, and a curfew remained in effect for over three months.

In June 2010, a partial legislative by-election was held, marking the emergence of the Union Nationale (UN) coalition, primarily comprising defectors from the ruling PDG party following Omar Bongo's passing. The contest for the five available seats saw both the PDG and UN claiming victory, underscoring the political tensions that persisted in the aftermath of the presidential transition.

The political landscape was further disrupted in January 2019 when a group of soldiers attempted a coup against President Ali Bongo. Despite initial unrest, the coup ultimately failed, but it highlighted the ongoing challenges facing Gabon's political stability.

Against this backdrop of political volatility, Gabon achieved significant milestones on the international stage. In June 2021, it became the first country to receive payments for reducing emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Additionally, in June 2022, Gabon, along with Togo, joined the Commonwealth of Nations, signalling its commitment to multilateral engagement and cooperation.

2023 coup d'étatedit

In August 2023, following the announcement that Ali Bongo had won a third term in the general election, military officers announced that they had taken power in a coup d'état and cancelled the election results. They also dissolved state institutions including the Judiciary, Parliament and the constitutional assembly. On 31 August 2023, army officers who seized power, ending the Bongo family's 55-year hold on power, named Gen Brice Oligui Nguema as the country's transitional leader. On 4 September 2023, General Nguema was sworn in as interim president of Gabon.