Gabon’s military rulers announced their new constitution had been overwhelmingly approved in this weekend’s referendum, according to provisional results it published on Sunday.
A statement from the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) said provisional results showed 91.8 percent of voters had backed the new constitution in Saturday’s vote.
Turnout reached 53.54 percent, the interior ministry said.
The authorities appealed to an estimated 860,000 registered voters to participate in a “historic moment” for the country, more than a year after the junta took power in a coup.
Once the results are confirmed by the constitutional court, the next step will be a presidential election scheduled for August 2025.
Transitional president General Brice Oligui Nguema has vowed to hand power back to civilians, but he has made no secret of his desire to win the presidential race in the oil-rich country.
During the election, there were no major incidents reported by a network of observers made up of local associations, which were backed by the United Nations.
National and international observers were allowed to follow the voting but did not have access to the entire counting process, the observers’ network said.
Under the electoral code, all ballots are incinerated at each polling station after the count.
© Agence France-Presse
