[JURIST] Gabon’s Constitutional Court on Saturday upheld incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba‘s victory over challenger Jean Ping [official websites, in French], despite calls for a recount based on alleged vote rigging. Ping’s allegations focused on the Haut-Ogooue province, where Bongo received 95 percent of votes on a 99 percent turnout. The court did not overturn the vote or demand a recount, and instead it increased the percentage of votes in Bongo’s favor, from 49.8 to 50.6 percent. On Ping’s warning to the court that unrest would follow a decision in Bongo’s favor, the court announced that Ping would be held accountable for any subsequent violence.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling comes just days after Gabon’s Ambassador to the US said [JURIST report] that ballots from the contested presidential election would be recounted, after Bongo won by less than 10,000 votes. Ping filed [JURIST report] the complaint with the Constitutional Court earlier this month after a report released last week by Amnesty International condemned [JURIST report] Gabon security forces for using excessive force against protesters after the country’s disputed election.