Former opposition leaders and stalwarts of the ousted regime have been appointed by Gabon’s new ruler, General Brice Oligui Nguema, on Monday to both houses of parliament.
The general, proclaimed president for a transition period, led a bloodless coup d’etat against President Ali Bongo Ondimba on August 30.
Moments before, Bongo, whose family ruled the West African state for 55 years, had been declared the winner of a presidential election that the army and opposition declared fraudulent.
Oligui has promised to hand the country back to civilian rule with elections after a transitional period, without setting a date.
He has set up a broad transitional government under new prime minister Raymond Ndong Sima, a Paris-educated economist who served as PM for Bongo from 2012 to 2014 before running against him in the 2016 and 2023 presidential campaigns.
The new Senate will be led by Paulette Missambo, one of Bongo’s leading rivals at the election and head of the National Union party, said a decree from Oligui, read out on state television.
Jean-Francois Ndongou, who held numerous ministerial posts under the Bongo family’s decades in power, will be the speaker of the transitional National Assembly.
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Four vice presidents – army officers, politicians who opposed and supported Bongo, as well as civil society figures – were named for each house.
Oligui is also expected to appoint 70 members of the assembly and 50 of the senate.
The new government that Ndong Sima announced on Saturday includes military figures and ex-ministers who served under ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba, but none of the main opposition figures.
Oligui has also promised a new constitution, to be adopted by referendum, and a new electoral code.
Also, on Monday, the curfew introduced in Libreville and its suburbs by Bongo’s government and subsequently maintained by the military was reduced by four hours and will now run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
However, the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew hours will be maintained in the rest of the country, the military announced.