At the time, the EU mission said it had observed "anomalies" during the vote count, notably in Bongo's stronghold of Haut-Ogooue, and its doubts were confirmed in the observers' report. WIRETAPRaising questions about the participation rate, the study noted that the nationwide turnout figure figure, not including Haut-Ogooue, stood at 54.24 per cent. "This observation raises questions about the integrity of the results from the province" and thus for the overall result of the election, it added. An initial report by the observers expressing concern about the vote sparked an angry reaction from the Gabonese government, with a spokesman saying the mission was "neither neutral nor impartial". In October, a French newspaper published a report saying the the 73-strong European observer team had been wiretapped by Gabonese intelligence.

Source: Daily Nation June 07, 2020 04:18 UTC