A Two-Year Transition Before Free Elections Reasonable – Gabon’s New PM Backs Junta

Gabon’s newly appointed Prime Minister, Raymond Ndong Sima, has said a two-year transition before the free elections promised by Gabon’s new military rulers is a “reasonable objective.”

Naija News reported last Thursday that Sima, an opposition leader in Gabon, was appointed the new Prime Minister.

Gabon’s new strongman, General Brice Oligui Nguema, who was sworn in on Monday, announced the development on state TV on Thursday.

Recall that Nguema, while delivering his inaugural speech last Monday, when he was sworn in as the transitional president,  promised to hold “free, transparent and credible elections” and to restore civilian rule but did not give a timeframe.

However, in a fresh development, the new prime minister disclosed that the two-year transitional period proposed by the military junta is still a reasonable time frame.

Speaking with AFP in an interview on Sunday, Sima said the transition period could be slightly longer or shorter than the proposed two years.

He said, “It’s good to set off with a reasonable objective by saying: we have the desire to see the process come to an end in 24 months so we can go back to elections.”

Sima, a 68-year-old economist, was prime minister of the overthrown president of Ali Bongo from 2012 to 2014. But he resigned and ran against Bongo as an opposition in 2016, and he is also part of the opposition coalition this year.

Recall that Nguema led a coup d’etat against President Ali Bongo on August 30, moments after he was declared winner of the just-ended election in the central African nation.

Bongo, who was under house arrest since the coup, was released last Wednesday to proceed into self-exile.