Reactions were mixed in Gabon after military rulers this week announced that a referendum on a new constitution will be held November 16.
The new charter would remove the post of prime minister, a move that critics say gives too much power to the president. The opposition is also unhappy that military leader General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema would be allowed to run for president if the new constitution is approved.
State media in Gabon is telling citizens that everyone 18 years and older has a civic duty to vote in the referendum.
The country’s transitional military rulers said the new constitution would be a major step toward restoring civilian rule in Gabon and implementing recommendations of April’s national dialogue — a nearly monthlong conference on how to achieve that objective.
The proposed charter establishes August 30 as a Day of National Liberation to mark the bloodless coup in which Ngeuma seized power from President Ali Bongo last year. Military leaders say the coup saved Gabon from a serious political, economic and institutional crisis.
The constitution would abolish the post of prime minister and create the post of vice president. Presidents would be directly elected by the people and limited to two seven-year terms.
The new charter would also outlaw intimate relations between people of the same sex.
Some Gabonese say the referendum is being rushed.
Ondobo Emmanuel, a history student at Omar Bongo University in the capital, Libreville, said Gabon’s transitional government officials should have taken at least two months to educate people on the basic principles and laws of the nation they are proposing before convening civilians to vote in a constitutional referendum.
He said most people in Gabon neither read nor write and do not have access to television.
Government officials said copies of the draft constitution have been distributed on social media platforms. However, an estimated 30% of the central African state’s civilians do not have internet access.
Meanwhile, opposition parties say Nguema has not respected his promise to restore civilian rule by making it clear in the proposed constitution that the military should not play a role in politics.
Jean Delors Biyogue, a member of the Constitutional Committee, defended the wording of the document.
He said the proposed constitution would not bar qualified civilians and Gabon’s defense staff members, including transitional president Nguema, from running for president because it would be undemocratic to restrain people who are capable from contributing to the welfare of Gabon.
Biyogue also said the proposed constitution is revolutionary because it sets presidential term limits and makes it possible for power to alternate.
If the constitution is approved, he said, Gabon will not find itself in a situation in which a leader rules until he dies, as was the case with Ali Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, who was in power for 42 years.
When Nguema seized power last year, he promised to restore civilian rule within two years. He has not said whether he will run for president at the end of the transitional period.
But Thierry Essame, a member of Gabon’s Civil Society Movement, said the proposed constitution makes it clear that Nguema wants to stay in power.
Essame said Gabon’s military leaders have not explained to civilians that officials are proposing a presidential system in which Nguema would have excessive powers.
He said a presidential system should have separation and sharing of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial arms of government; the proposed constitution would mean that in Gabon, the president would appoint members of the judiciary and could dissolve parliament.
Official campaigning for the constitutional referendum begins November 6.
