Gabon Constitututional Court rules case against president is inadmissible

Gabon's Constitutional Court has ruled that the case filed by three opposition leaders contesting eligibility of President Ali Bongo Ondimba to run in the forthcoming elections was inadmissible, a judicial source said Thursday.

The case was filed by three opposition presidential candidates Jean Ping, Guy Nzouba Ndama and Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou, who argued that Ali Bongo had submitted a false birth certificate in his nomination papers for the Aug. 27, 2016 presidential elections.

In the ruling, the highest judicial authority in the country gave two reasons; the first was that the plaintiffs did not attach a copy of the said birth certificate. And secondly, even if the copy had been attached to the submitted documents, the court did not have the competency to decide on the authenticity of a birth certificate.

"There are competent authorities for that task," the court affirmed.

According to Gabon's law, decisions of the Constitutional Court are not challengeable. They are final.

The three candidates had called for the rejection of Ali Bongo's candidature on the basis of a doubtful birth certificate. The incumbent president is accused of having been born in Nigeria.

Article 10 of Gabon's Constitution prohibits any Gabonese who acquired his nationality from contesting for the presidency. The president has always affirmed that the debate on his place of birth was an insult to his parents, especially his father and ex-president Omar Bongo Ondimba who died in June 2009. Endit