By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Gabon, Ali Bongo on Monday, proposed a constitutional change to limit the presidential term of office from seven to five years.
The constitutional amendment if effected, will require a parliamentary voting to come into effect or rejected.
“On the eve of future general elections, I have today decided to set the term of office for all elections to five years,” Bongo said on Monday as he commences consultations to prepare for elections this year and efforts to avert violence.
In the 2016 election in which Bongo was declared winner, violence had erupted as opposition alleged fraud.
Bongo, 64 has been president of the oil-producing West African nation since succeeding his father, Omar, who died in 2009.
He has not said whether he will run for a third term in the 2023 race for which an exact date has not yet been set. There are currently no constitutional term limits in Gabon.
His 2016 victory triggered clashes between police and protesters during which the parliament was torched. Estimates of the death toll from the unrest range from a few people killed to more than 50, while hundreds of others were arrested, according to U.S. democracy watchdog Freedom House.
Bongo suffered a stroke in October 2018 and was flown to Morocco for medical treatment. He spent three months abroad but returned shortly after a coup attempt was thwarted in his absence.
The consultations on the upcoming elections are scheduled to last until Feb. 24.
