| Country: | Gabon |
| Type: | presidential |
| Election Date: | 6 December 1998 |
| Previous Election: | 1993 Gabonese presidential election |
| Previous Year: | 1993 |
| Next Election: | 2005 Gabonese presidential election |
| Next Year: | 2005 |
| Image1: | Omar Bongo 1973.jpg |
| Candidate1: | Omar Bongo |
| Party1: | Gabonese Democratic Party |
| Popular Vote1: | 211,955 |
| Percentage1: | 66.88% |
| Candidate2: | Pierre Mamboundou |
| Party2: | Union of the Gabonese People |
| Popular Vote2: | 52,278 |
| Percentage2: | 16.50% |
| Image3: | 3x4.svg |
| Candidate3: | Paul Mba Abessole |
| Party3: | RNB |
| Popular Vote3: | 41,701 |
| Percentage3: | 13.16% |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Omar Bongo |
| Before Party: | Gabonese Democratic Party |
| After Election: | Omar Bongo |
| After Party: | Gabonese Democratic Party |
Presidential elections were held in Gabon on 6 December 1998. Incumbent President Omar Bongo, in power since 1967, sought a seven-year term against five other candidates. It was Gabon's second multi-party presidential election and, despite low turnout and polling problems, Bongo won the election with 66.88% of the vote.[1] [2]
In late July 1998, the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) called for Bongo to run for re-election, praising him as a "trump card for the third millennium". Also in July, the opposition National Woodcutters' Rally (RNB) split into two factions, one headed by Paul Mba Abessole and one headed by Pierre-Andre Kombila, after Kombila was expelled from the party.[3]
Pierre Mamboundou of the Union of the Gabonese People (UPG) ran as the candidate of the High Council of the Resistance, a coalition of opposition parties that included the UPG, the African Forum for Reconstruction, the Mebiame Group, MORENA–Original and the Socialist Emancipation Movement of the People.[4] [5] The Gabonese Progress Party (PGP) of Pierre-Louis Agondjo Okawé supported Mamboundou.[6]
The publication of opinion polls was prohibited by the National Communication Council during the week immediately preceding the election.[7]
According to final results from the Constitutional Court, Bongo won the election with 66.88% of the vote. Mamboundou officially placed second with 16.54% of the vote.[8] [9] Mamboundou denounced the official results as an "electoral coup d'etat" and called on the people to begin a "graduated response" by engaging in a stay at home ("ghost city") protest.[9] Following the election, he alleged that commandos sent by the government tried to kill him on 12 December 1998.[10] While Mamboundou's call for people to stay at home was mostly ignored in Libreville, Port-Gentil was reportedly "paralysed".[11]
Jean-François Ntoutoume Emane was Bongo's campaign manager during the election, and he was subsequently appointed as Prime Minister in January 1999.[12]