1998 Gabonese presidential election

← 1993 6 December 1998 2005 →

Candidate Omar Bongo Pierre Mamboundou Paul Mba Abessole Party PDG UPG RNB Popular vote 211,955 52,278 41,701 Percentage 66.88% 16.50% 13.16%

President before election Omar Bongo PDG Elected President Omar Bongo PDG

Politics of Gabon
Constitution Human rights
Government President (transitional) Brice Oligui Nguema Vice President (transitional) Joseph Owondault Berre Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima (transitional)
Parliament Senate President: Paulette Missambo National Assembly President: Jean-François Ndongou
Administrative divisions Provinces Departments Cantons and communes
Elections Recent elections Presidential: 2023 2025 Parliamentary: 2023 2025 Political parties
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Régis Onanga Ndiaye Diplomatic missions of / in Gabon Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Other countries
v t e

Presidential elections were held in Gabon on 6 December 1998. Incumbent President Omar Bongo, in power since 1967, sought a seven-year term against five other candidates. It was Gabon's second multi-party presidential election and, despite low turnout and polling problems, Bongo won the election with 66.88% of the vote.^[1][2]

In late July 1998, the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) called for Bongo to run for re-election, praising him as a "trump card for the third millennium". Also in July, the opposition National Woodcutters' Rally (RNB) split into two factions, one headed by Paul Mba Abessole and one headed by Pierre-Andre Kombila, after Kombila was expelled from the party.^[3]

Pierre Mamboundou of the Union of the Gabonese People (UPG) ran as the candidate of the High Council of the Resistance, a coalition of opposition parties that included the UPG, the African Forum for Reconstruction, the Mebiame Group, MORENA–Original and the Socialist Emancipation Movement of the People.^[4][5] The Gabonese Progress Party (PGP) of Pierre-Louis Agondjo Okawé supported Mamboundou.^[6]

The publication of opinion polls was prohibited by the National Communication Council during the week immediately preceding the election.^[7]

According to final results from the Constitutional Court, Bongo won the election with 66.88% of the vote. Mamboundou officially placed second with 16.54% of the vote.^[8][9] Mamboundou denounced the official results as an "electoral coup d'etat" and called on the people to begin a "graduated response" by engaging in a stay at home ("ghost city") protest.^[9] Following the election, he alleged that commandos sent by the government tried to kill him on 12 December 1998.^[10] While Mamboundou's call for people to stay at home was mostly ignored in Libreville, Port-Gentil was reportedly "paralysed".^[11]

Jean-François Ntoutoume Emane was Bongo's campaign manager during the election, and he was subsequently appointed as Prime Minister in January 1999.^[12]