Briefing from ROAPE Volume 26 Number 80
Presidential Election In Gabon

A presidential election was held on 6 December 1998 in Gabon, an oil- rich state in central Africa roughly half the size of France, the former colonial power, but with a tiny population (estimated at only 1.3 million). El Hadj Omar Bongo, Gabon's president since 1967, was a leader schooled by long experience in managing the conflicting requirements of power in an African ‘oil emirate’ ; at 63, he was facing re-election for the final term permitted under the 1991 constitution.