30 Aug 2009
Gabonese electors have gone to the polls to elect a successor to deceased President Omar Bongo, Africa's longest serving ruler, who died in June.

Polling stations opened two hours behind schedule on Sunday, in several districts of the capital, Libreville, due to the shortage of staff and material.

The late president's son, former defense minister Ali Ben Bongo, who was chosen as the candidate of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), is seeking to replace his father at the helm of power.

The 50-year-old is considered the top contender, with 18 other candidates running in the presidential race, including former government ministers Andre Mba Obame and Casimir Oye Mba.

Obame has won the backing of five candidates out of the original 23 contenders who pulled out of the race on Friday.

While the opposition has vowed to fight what they deem as widespread corruption and discrimination in Gabon, Bongo has promised to stay true to his father's policies and boosting what he called the country's prosperity during his father's four-decade-long rule.

Omar Bongo was one of the world's wealthiest heads of state.

The oil-rich country is also the world's third biggest provider of manganese metal and the continent's second biggest wood exporter, but the majority of its population of 1.5 million live below the poverty line.

presstv