Advanced Search

The Gabonese people,
…
Solemnly affirm their adherence to the rights of Man and to the fundamental freedoms such as they derive from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 and [from] the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, consecrated by the African Charter of the Rights of Man and of Peoples of 1981, and by the National Charter of Liberties of 1990;
Solemnly proclaim their adherence to their profound and traditional social values, to their cultural, material and spiritual patrimony, to respect for the freedoms, the rights and the duties of the citizen.
… (Preamble)

…
1) Each citizen has the right to the free development of their person with respect for the rights of others and of the public order.
… (Art. 1)

Any justiciable [person] may, by way of a process before an ordinary tribunal, raise a pleadings [exception] of constitutionality against a law or an ordinance which affects recognition [méconnaîtrait] of their fundamental rights.
The presiding judge refers the Constitutional Court to [the matter] by way of prejudicial pleadings [préjudicielle exception].
… (Art. 86)

The Constitutional Court decides obligatorily on:
...
- the constitutionality of the organic laws and of the laws before their promulgation, of the ordinances as well as the regulatory acts [that] supposedly infringe the fundamental rights of the human person and the public freedoms, after their publication;
... (Art. 84)

The Constitutional Court is the judge of the constitutionality of the laws and of the regularity of the elections. It guarantees the fundamental rights of the human person and the public freedoms.
… (Art. 83)⁵

Outside of the cases expressly provided for by the Constitution, the law establishes the rules concerning:
…
- the regime of associations, of parties, of political groups [formations],
… (Art. 47)

Suffrage is universal, equal and secret. It can be direct or indirect, within the conditions provided for by the Constitution or by the law. The ballot is [by] uninominal majority [majoritaire uninominal/first-past-the-post] in one round for the presidential and parliamentary elections. The ballot is by list and in one round for the local elections.
Within the conditions specified by the Constitution and by the law, all Gabonese of both sexes, being already eighteen years of age, enjoying their civil and political rights, are electors and eligible.
 … (Art. 4)⁶

…
13) The right to form associations, political parties or formations, unions [syndicats], companies [sociétés], establishments of social interest as well as religious communities, is guaranteed to all under the conditions established by the law;
…
24) The State favors the equal access of women and of men to the electoral mandates as well as to the political and professional responsibilities. (Art. 1)

…
13) …
The political associations, parties or formations, unions, companies, establishments of social interest, as well as religious communities[,] of which the activities are contrary to the laws, to good morals, or to the good relations of ethnic groups or ensembles[,] may be forbidden according to the terms of the law.
… (Art. 1)

The political parties and the groupings of political parties legally recognized participate [concourent] in the expression of suffrage. They form themselves and exercise their activity freely, within the framework established by the law, according to the principles of multipartism.
They contribute to the equal access of women, of men, of young [persons] and of the handicapped to the electoral mandates, within the conditions established by the law.
They must respect the Constitution, the law and regulations of the Republic. (Art. 6)