LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon’s President Ali Bongo shrugged off growing international pressure on Wednesday to recount last week’s disputed election, saying it was a matter for the constitutional court to decide.

Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba votes during the presidential election in Libreville, Gabon, August 27, 2016. REUTERS/Gerauds Wilfried Obangome

Opposition leader Jean Ping, who has branded the Aug. 27 election a sham, said he did not trust the court. The European Union has also questioned the validity of the results and France, the former colonial ruler, backs the idea of a recount.

The poll and its violent aftermath - at least six people have died in riots - have drawn international attention to Gabon, which counts Total and Royal Dutch Shell PLC among foreign investors. The inflow of petrodollars have made it one of Africa’s richest nations by GDP per capita, but they have mostly benefited the elite.

Asked in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Wednesday whether he would permit a recount, Bongo told France’s RTL radio: “What people should be asking me to do is apply the law. I cannot violate the law. As far as a recount is concerned ... that’s done at the level of the Constitutional Court.”

Bongo, whose family has ruled Gabon for half a century, said that under the electoral law, his opponents had until 1400 GMT (10.00 a.m. ET) on Thursday to lodge their complaints with the court. He said he was preparing his own objections.

Ping, a former diplomat, said he had no faith in the constitutional court, the highest legal body that can rule on an election, and said any recount should take place under international supervision.

“The constitutional court is the Bongo family. We know that,” Ping told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday.

Ping’s camp has alleged the number of votes cast for Bongo in southeastern Haut-Ogooue province was inflated. Official figures show the president won 95.46 percent of the vote, after a 99.9 percent turnout.

“I AM A DEMOCRAT”

The African Union has said it will send mediators to Gabon this week. The United Nations, which will send a representative to attend the process, is encouraging the opposition to file an appeal with the constitutional court.

“We hope the African Union mission ... will demand, as did President Ping, as well as national and international public opinion, a recount polling station by polling station,” said Ping spokesman Rene Ndemezo Obiang at a press conference.

Obiang said Ping had yet to appeal to the court.

“Are we going to?” he said. “We shall see.”

Asked whether he would accept the court’s ruling if it did examine the results, Bongo told Europe 1 radio: “I am a democrat. I am in favor of the Constitutional Court taking up the case.” He added he expected it would rule in his favor.

Bongo said any suggestion of forming a unity government with opponents was premature.

“It is difficult to work with those who asked the Gabonese people to go into the streets and loot,” he said.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, whose country was once close to Bongo’s father and predecessor, suggested on Tuesday a recount would be sensible, and urged the Gabonese authorities to help locate about 15 French nationals who are missing.

“They are among those who rioted and looted and were therefore arrested,” Bongo said, adding that six dual nationals would be treated like any citizen of Gabon.</s>PARIS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Gabon's re-elected President Ali Bongo shrugged off international calls for a recount of last week's disputed vote, saying it was a matter for the constitutional court to decide.

The European Union has questioned the validity of election which the opposition has dismissed as a sham. France, the former colonial ruler of the central African oil producer, has said a recount would be wise

Asked in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Wednesday whether he would permit a recount, Bongo told France's RTL radio: "What people should be asking me to do is apply the law. I cannot violate the law. As far as a recount is concerned ... that's done at the level of the Constitutional Court."

Opposition leader Jean Ping, who has said the election was stolen, called on Tuesday for help from the international community. He told Reuters: "Everybody knows the result and everybody knows that Bongo is doing everything not to accept it."

Ping has said he has no faith in the constitutional court because it was tied to the Bongo family and that he wants a recount done under international supervision before any appeal to that court.

Asked about the possibility of forming a unity government with the opposition, Bongo said it was premature to discuss such a move.

"I will be the president for all Gabonese, I will work with all my compatriots who want to join me in working for the development of the country. But it is difficult to work with those who asked the Gabonese people to go into the streets and loot." (Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Astrid Wendlandt and Andrew Heavens)</s>Gabon's Bongo says for Constitutional Court to rule on vote recount

PARIS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Gabon's re-elected President Ali Bongo said he would be a leader for all Gabonese people and that it was for the Constitutional Court to decide whether there should be a recount of last week's disputed vote result.

The European Union has questioned the validity of the result which saw Bongo win by a wafer-thin margin and France has said a recount would be wise.

Asked in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Wednesday whether he would permit a recount, Bongo told France's RTL radio: "What people should be asking me to do is apply the law. I cannot violate the law. As far as a recount is concerned ... that's done at the level of the Constitutional Court."</s>LIBREVILLE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Gabon's opposition faced a legal deadline on Thursday to seek a vote recount in an election they say was stolen by President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the oil-rich OPEC member state for about half a century.

Results last week showed Bongo, 57, beat his main rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat, by fewer than 6,000 votes in the Aug. 27 poll, prompting days of violent riots during which at least six people died.

Bongo has rejected accusations that results were altered to ensure his victory but has come under increasing international pressure to back a recount of votes, including from former colonial power France, which has a military base in Gabon.

The United Nations has urged the opposition to lodge an appeal with the constitutional court before the 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) deadline.

Ping, 73, has repeatedly questioned the neutrality of the court and could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday. However his campaign manager said Ping was weighing the option of officially challenging the result.

"We are currently studying the question. A decision has not yet been taken," said John Nambo.

International criticism of the election has focused on the results from Bongo's stronghold, the province of Haut-Ogooue, where the participation rate was more than double that of other regions and showed that 95.46 percent of voters backed Bongo.

The European Union has said it found anomalies in the results from Haut-Ogooue and on Thursday France renewed its call for a recount.

"France considers that a transparent, impartial examination of the results of the presidential election is a condition for ending the crisis as it's the only way to establish the sincerity of the result incontestably," said French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal.

As well as its military base, France has about 14,000 nationals based in Gabon and, through its oil giant Total , a large stake in the country's oil sector, which produces 200,000 barrels per day.

But Paris has ruled out intervening in Gabon's post-electoral crisis as it has done before in its former colonies, saying it is up to Africans to resolve it.

African Union mediators, led by Chad's President Idriss Deby, are expected to arrive in the Gabonese capital Libreville on Friday to help find a solution to the standoff.

Some analysts have questioned whether Deby, one of Africa's "big men" in power since 1990, will push for a recount.

A power-sharing deal in Gabon is also seen as unlikely, partly because of the personal nature of the feud between the two candidates.

Bongo has accused the opposition of cheating in its turn and said on Wednesday he would ask the constitutional court to investigate irregularities in Ping's stronghold and elsewhere.

Critics of Bongo, who won a disputed election in 2009 after the death of his long-ruling father Omar Bongo, say he has not done enough to redistribute oil wealth beyond a small elite.

The ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has suffered a series of high-level defections in recent years.

Ping, a life-long political insider and former African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of President Omar Bongo but fell out with his son and resigned from the PDG in 2014. He has fathered two children with Ali Bongo's sister Pascaline. (Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Joe Bavier and Gareth Jones)</s>GABON President Ali Bongo has accused international observers who highlighted anomalies in the country’s contested presidential election of bias.

Mr Bongo criticised the European Union mission observing Gabon’s election after questions were raised over his narrow victory.

He also accused opposition leader Jean Ping of a “massive fraud”.

“If we want to address the anomalies, we must be clear, balanced and address any anomalies,” he said.

BBC stated that on Tuesday the EU questioned the legitimacy of the election results in Gabon on 27 August.

The Constitutional Court is expected to meet on Thursday to consider a challenge by Mr Ping.

Mr Bongo said he would respect the wishes of the court if it ordered a recount.

The EU mission said there was a “clear anomaly” in the results from Mr Bongo’s home province after official figures from Haut-Ogooue showed a turnout of 99.93 per cent, with 95 per cent of votes cast for the president.

Mr Ping, who lost the election by less than 6,000 votes, has pointed to the results in the province as evidence of electoral fraud.

He has called for a general strike and said that dozens of his supporters have been killed in violent clashes since the result was announced.

The Gabonese authorities say three people have died and 105 have been injured in street violence and mass arrests have taken place.</s>LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — The dispute over Gabon's presidential election has intensified as opposition candidate Jean Ping is mounting a legal challenge and demanding a recount.

Ping has already publicly declared himself the winner, even though election results said incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba won the Aug. 27 vote.

FILE-In this file photo taken on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba, leaves the Elysee Palace after a meeting with French President Francois Hollande as part of preparation of the upcoming COP21 Climate Conference in Paris, France. President Ondimba on Wednesday Sept. 7, 2016 tried to deflect European Union observers' findings of a voting anomaly in his stronghold province that pushed him over the edge to win re-election, accusing his lead opponent of ballot fraud and a plot to seize power. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

Those results showed Bongo won by less than 2 percentage points. There is no provision for a runoff in this Central African nation.

European Union observers have expressed concern about results in Bongo's stronghold province.

Bongo's campaign has said it also planned to contest results at some of the polling stations.

Bongo came to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who had ruled Gabon for more than four decades.

FILE - In this Thursday Sept. 1, 2016 file photo, Gabonese Police stand guard on a barricade following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon. Post election violence in Gabon has killed between 50 and 100 people, the opposition presidential candidate said Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, a toll much higher than the government's count of three in days of violent demonstrations against the president's re-election. ( AP Photo/Joel Bouopda, File)</s>PARIS, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Gabon's re-elected President Ali Bongo, who has come under international scrutiny following his razor-thin election win last week, said on Wednesday that if electoral fraud was committed it was by his opponent Jean Ping.

"Jean Ping has committed fraud," Bongo said in an interview with France's Europe 1 radio.

Opposition leader Ping has said the vote was stolen by Bongo. The European Union has questioned the validity of the result and France has said a recount would be wise. (Reporting by Richard Lough; editing by Astrid Wendlandt)</s>The fight for democracy in Africa is, these days, centred on the tiny, oil-rich country of Gabon. It is not a new fight, by any means. In 2009, after the death of longtime leader Omar Bongo – who had ruled the former French colony for more than 40 years – riots broke out in several cities when it was announced that his son, Ali Bongo, was slated to become the next president. Opposition leaders called foul after presidential election results were announced, and they attempted to organise a nationwide strike. Now, seven years on, Ali Bongo has run up against a new, wider wave of protests, after he claimed he had won re-election, on 27 August, with a lead of just over 5,000 votes in a nation of 1.8 million. Street clashes with police led to several deaths. Opposition supporters set fire to the parliament building. Yet Mr Bongo remains defiant. He has accused his critics of attempting a coup and he has rejected calls for a recount of votes and even for election results to be published in detail. At one point he had his main opponent, Jean Ping, who says the election is being stolen, placed under house arrest. There were also government efforts to impose a media blackout, including by cutting off the internet. The situation on the streets has since eased, but tensions still run high in this central African country.

Gabon’s crisis is watched closely by France and neighbouring African states. France has a key military base as well as important economic interests in the region and has called for a recount, but it wants to be careful not to appear to meddle directly for fear of being accused of neocolonial reflexes. Whether outside mediation can help resolve a situation where two men, Mr Bongo and Mr Ping, both claim to be the legally elected president will now be put to the test: the African Union announced this week that it would send a delegation to Gabon.

None of this is made easier by the complex web of family ties that have long stood at the heart of Gabonese politics. Mr Ping, 73 years old, a former president of the African Union commission, was one of Omar Bongo’s closest and longest-serving ministers and married one of his daughters. He now describes Gabon as “a dictatorship pure and simple, run by a clan” – a “dynastic regime” that must be ended. But there is hardly any doubt that he has solid reasons to complain about vote manipulation. A mission of European Union observers said there were “obvious anomalies”. Mr Ping hopes international pressure will bear down on Mr Bongo, who clearly believes time is on his side because no external player is ready to consider anything like outright intervention.

Many of Gabon’s citizens certainly want its political course to change. Its population is poor and the economy has slumped with the fall of global oil prices. Families struggle for food day to day. Mr Bongo’s rule has been tainted by many allegations of corruption, not least the ownership of luxury cars and apartments in Paris. Gabon has only had three presidents since its independence in 1960. Mr Bongo, 57, may have tried to project the image of a younger leader, but his repressive methods are fast placing him in the same category as other strongmen who hang on to power as if mandates were for life. The unrest that has broken out reflects deep-seated popular anger. Gabon’s civil society, like those elsewhere in Africa, wants its voice to be heard, and democratic procedures to be respected. The votes should be recounted.
Ali Bongo Ondimba rejects calls for a recount.