Gabon: Civil society rolls out app to counter election rigging

As Gabon prepares to head to the polls this August members of the civil society in the country have rolled out a mobile application that they hope will limit vote rigging.

Through the app known as Regab, users will be able to get live updates on the elections and real time vote counting results.

“This application will serve us in the civil society to trace and document electoral fraud. However we also hope to especially empower the young people we will send to the field to gather information and collect the results,” says Blanche Simonny Abeghe, the head of UNDP’s anti-corruption component in Gabon.

The app will have no direct links with the country’s electoral commission, and information will be sourced directly from the polling stations and counting centres.

Presidential elections in Gabon are slated for August 27, in a contest where president Ali Bongo is expected to face a stiff challenge from the former African Union Commission chairperson Jean Ping and ex-Gabon Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima.