Decided on Friday, a day after the election to the offices of the communal and departmental councils, the expulsions affected party leaders such as Marcel Mbelé Loussou (former MP for the Moanda commune) and Célestin Bayogha Nembé (former MP for Bakoumba and several times ministers under Omar Bongo)
These two personalities are all from the province of Haut-Ogooué (south-east) where the head of state Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is also the party’s president, comes from.
The Estuary province was not spared by these sanctions because Josephine Andeme Manfoumbi, a member of the PDG’s political bureau and close to former Prime Minister Paul Biyoghé MBa, was also expelled from the party.
In addition to indiscipline and intelligence-sharing “with the enemy,” they are also accused of acts of defiance and incitement of dissenting candidates.
Other party leaders were accused of “complicity with the opponent” and “non-compliance with party policies.”
This is the case of the former Minister Pastor Ngoua N’neme and member of the political bureau on behalf of the Ntem department in the province of Woleu-Ntem (north).
This is the first time since the PDG’s creation in 1968 that such a purge has occurred within its ranks.
These expulsions occur in the absence of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is recovering from a stroke in Morocco.
The Gabonese Democratic Party controls both the local councils and the National Assembly, following its overwhelming victory in the combined local and legislative elections last October.