By Antoine Lawson
The Prime Minister of Gabon, Prime Minister Emmanuel Issozet Ngondet presented late Tuesday afternoon his letter of resignation to the President of the Republic following a decision of the Constitutional Court to put an end to the powers of the current legislature which resulted in the resignation of the current government.
The tenant to the Primature until May 1 had been appointed prime ministers in October 2016 following a disputed residential election, it is recalled.
Gabon has been living since April 30, an exceptional situation with the dissolution of the National Assembly and a Senate whose prerogatives are expanded, partially.
Pending the organization of the parliamentary elections for the election of the deputy who should find the lower house, Gabon will present in the coming months a kind of “regime” without the representatives of the people.
It should be remembered that the mandate of the deputies had been extended twice and it had expired on April 30 … without the long-awaited new elections.
The Ministry of the Interior has nevertheless been able to set up (with difficulty) the Gabonese Electoral Center (CGE).
The previous day, the Constitutional Court put an end to the mandate of the deputies to the National Assembly and in the continuation of this decision, the high court demanded the resignation of the government, and therefore of the Prime Minister, this one having been able to organize within the constitutional deadlines the poll initially scheduled for December 2016 and postponed twice.
Gabon is therefore moving towards the formation of a transitional government, until the organization of parliamentary elections.
For the president of the Constitutional Court, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, the mandate of the deputies ends and the head of state must appoint a new prime minister who will present a government to continue the program of head of state Ali Bongo Ondimba.
“It is clear that the government has not been able to fulfill the missions assigned to it, including the revision of the electoral list since 2017 and the establishment of the Gabonese Electoral Center since January 2018,” Mborantsuo added. his statement.
In the absence of a National Assembly, the Senate will temporarily fulfill part of the powers of the National Assembly.
The date of the legislative elections will be announced by the Court after being seized by the Gabonese Electoral Center (CGE), a body gathering members of the majority and the opposition which has just been put in place and must be sworn in on Wednesday. The CGE replaces the National Independent and Permanent Electoral Commission (Cenap), which validated the results of the presidential election of August 2016, it is reported.
