Gabon president's party wins parliamentary majority

President Brice Oligui Nguema's Democratic Union of Builders (UDB) secured a much needed majority, results indicated, after a second round of the parliamentary vote on Saturday.

The party was on course to win 55 seats in the 145-seat national assembly.

The run-off vote was conducted in only 77 constituencies where no candidate won an absolute majority, according to the national electoral body.

The contest is mostly between UDB and the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), the party of former president Ali Bongo, which won three seats in the first round.

The victory is a huge boost to Nguema who won a presidential election in April.

The exercise concludes a political transition after an August 2023 coup by Nguema ended 55 years of the Bongo family rule over oil-rich Gabon.