The Commonwealth expressed concern on Wednesday over a military coup in Gabon, which joined the organisation last year, and said it was closely monitoring the situation.
Secretary general Patricia Scotland said the situation was “deeply concerning”, adding: “The Commonwealth Charter is clear that member states must uphold the rule of law and the principles of democracy at all times”.
This comes hours after a group of Gabonese military officers appeared on television announcing they were “putting an end to the current regime” and cancelling Ondimba’s election.
One of the officers stated that “all the institutions of the republic” had been dissolved while announcing the revocation of the voting results.
An officer read the address, who was surrounded by a dozen army colonels, members of the elite Republican Guard, regular soldiers, and others.
It happened just moments after the national election authority announced that Bongo had won a third term with 64.27 percent of the vote in Saturday’s poll.
