Elections in Gabon

Gabon’s electoral framework is based on the Constitution of 19 December 2024, the Electoral Code and Organic Law No. 001/2025 promulgated on 22 January 2025. Law No. 020/2025 of 27 June 2025 determines parliamentary seat distribution. The main local terms are Élections politiques, scrutin, collège électoral, liste électorale, centre de vote and bureau de vote. The President is elected by direct universal suffrage for a seven-year mandate. The election uses a single-member majority system with two rounds: a candidate who obtains an absolute majority in the first round wins; otherwise, a second round takes place after 14 days. A person may be re-elected once and may serve a maximum of two consecutive mandates. The Assemblée Nationale has 145 directly elected seats, a five-year term and a two-round single-member majority system. It has 143 national seats and two seats for citizens abroad, divided into zones covering Africa and Europe-America-Asia-Oceania. The Sénat has 70 seats and a five-year term. Local councillors form its collège électoral, and senators are elected indirectly through a two-round single-member majority vote. Each senatorial candidate runs with a substitute. Municipal and departmental councils are elected directly through blocked lists using proportional representation based on the highest-average method. The list winning an absolute majority receives half of the seats, and the remaining seats are distributed proportionally. The council then elects its president or mayor by secret ballot. Municipal and departmental councillors must be at least 40 years old. Gabonese citizens of either sex may vote from the age of 18 if they retain their civil and political rights and are properly registered. People under guardianship, adults under curatorship, certain convicted persons and people subject to a judicial voting ban are excluded. The right to vote is free, and Gabonese citizens may be registered in Gabon or abroad. The permanent biometric electoral list identifies voters through the Numéro d’Identification Personnel (NIP), a personal identification number. Each voter belongs to one constituency and one voting centre. Initial registration, a change of voting centre or residence, and removal from the list can be requested through the responsible administrative service. Registration is generally open for 30 days, with a possible extension of up to eight days. The list is revised annually and again before each election. A voter can complain to the competent administrative authority and may then appeal to the Tribunal administratif. Presidential, National Assembly and referendum voting is available at diplomatic and consular representations abroad. A voter with a disability may receive assistance from an elector chosen freely by the voter. Procuration is available for documented absence, illness, childbirth, disability, pre-trial detention or imprisonment without loss of voting rights, and certain professional or family impediments. Voting in detention follows special rules. Candidates may be nominated by political parties or stand independently. Presidential candidates must be Gabonese by birth, aged 35 to 70, have at least one parent who was also Gabonese by birth, have lived continuously in Gabon for at least three years, speak at least one national language and retain their civil and political rights. The constitutional spouse requirement and nationality rules also apply; under the Code and Constitutional Court rules, another nationality generally requires renunciation at least three years earlier. A presidential candidate files a dossier with the Ministry, ACER and the Constitutional Court and pays a CFA 30,000,000 deposit. A rejected candidate may appeal within 72 hours. Deputies must be registered electors and at least 18; naturalized Gabonese citizens cannot stand for the National Assembly, while Gabonese by origin may hold another nationality. Senators must be local councillors and at least 40. The law provides equal access for women, men, young people and persons with disabilities. A 2025 post-transition exception affected certain magistrates, defense and security personnel and senior public accountants. Campaign periods depend on the election. Presidential campaigning begins on the 14th day before voting, campaigning for deputies and local councils on the 10th day, and senatorial campaigning on the third day. Campaigning ends at midnight on the eve of voting. The state is required to treat candidates equally. Spending ceilings include CFA 10,000,000,000 for a presidential election, CFA 100,000,000 for a deputy in the first round and CFA 50,000,000 in the second round, and CFA 30,000,000 for a senator in the first round and CFA 10,000,000 in the second round. Local deposits vary by election, such as CFA 350,000 per list for a departmental council. Campaign accounts and a financial representative are required, and sanctions or reimbursement can depend on the result and statutory thresholds. Election day is generally Saturday. Voting normally runs from 07:00 to 18:00. A bureau may close earlier if every registered voter has voted, and the hours may be extended up to 20:00 after an interruption or to allow voters already present to vote. Voting is secret and uses authenticated ballot papers and envelopes. Candidate or list representatives may attend the bureau and have observations entered in the procès-verbal (PV), the official polling record. The ballot box is opened publicly and votes are counted publicly. The bureau prepares and publicly announces its PV. Local commissions collect and centralize the records, while the Ministry of the Interior announces results. The Ministry sends the PVs to the Constitutional Court or the Conseil d’État, depending on the election. The Constitutional Court examines, corrects and proclaims results for the President, deputies, senators and referendums. The Tribunal administratif and Conseil d’État handle disputes concerning local councils and council offices. Fraud, coercion, falsified voter cards, ballot papers or PVs are criminal offences and can lead to up to ten years of ineligibility. The 2025 presidential election illustrates the national system: voting took place on 12 April 2025, with 916,665 registered voters, 642,632 voters and reported participation of 70.11 percent. The Constitutional Court’s final result gave Brice Clotaire OLIGUI NGUEMA 588,074 votes, or 94.85 percent, and no timely appeal was filed. National Assembly and local elections took place on 27 September 2025, with a second round for deputies on 11 October; senatorial rounds followed on 8 and 22 November, with partial elections on 6 December.