View source for Senate of Gabon

{{Politics of Gabon}}
[[File:Libreville-palais-senat.jpg|thumb|Omar Bongo Ondimba Palace]]
The '''Senate''' ({{langx|fr|Sénat}}) is the upper house of the [[Parliament of Gabon]]. It has 67 members, elected in single-seat [[constituency|constituencies]] by local and départemental councillors (52 seats) or appointed by the president (15 seats) for a six-year term.<ref>{{cite web |website=Gabon: Freedom in the World 2022 }}</ref> Beginning with the 2009 election, some constituencies elect two senators.

The status of the Parliament is unclear following the [[2023 Gabonese coup d'état|coup d'état]] four days after the [[2023 Gabonese general election|2023 general election]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Beaumont |first=Peter |date=2023-08-30 |title=Gabon military officers declare coup after Ali Bongo wins disputed election |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/30/gabon-coup-military-takeover-gabonese-election-disputed |access-date=2023-08-30 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

== History ==
The 1991 Constitution provided for the establishment of the Senate; previously the legislature had consisted of a unicameral [[National Assembly of Gabon|National Assembly]]. The creation of Senate was approved on 18 March 1994.<ref>{{cite web |title=Histoire - Sénat - République Gabonaise |url=http://www.senatgabon.com/histoire/ |date=3 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103013909/http://www.senatgabon.com/histoire/ |archive-date=2017-01-03 }}</ref> The Senate was not created until 1997, when an election was held to fill the seats in the upper house.<ref>David E. Gardinier and Douglas A. Yates, ''Historical Dictionary of Gabon'' (third edition, 2006), Scarecrow Press, page 65.</ref>

The first Senate president was [[Georges Rawiri]] (1932-2006), a long-time national political figure and close ally of [[Omar Bongo]]. He served in this position until his death in 2006.

He was replaced by [[René Radembino Coniquet]], also a member of the [[Myéné]] ethnic group.

A [[Gabonese Senate election, 2009|Senate election]] was held on 18 January 2009. The ruling [[Gabonese Democratic Party]] won a large majority of seats.<ref>[http://www.gabonews.ga/actualite/actualites_2007.php?Article=6143 "Gabon: Elections sénatoriales 2009: le PDG en tête des résultats"]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Gabonews, 19 January 2009 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> On this occasion, the number of senators was increased from 91 to 102. Following the election, [[Rose Francine Rogombé]] was elected as President of the Senate.

==Elections==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:right
!rowspan=2|Party
!colspan=4|Seats
|-
!1997
!2003
!2009
!2014
|-
|align=left|[[Gabonese Democratic Party]]||52||67||75||81
|-
|align=left|[[National Woodcutters' Rally – Rally for Gabon]]||19||8||6||0
|-
|align=left|[[Gabonese Progress Party]]||4||1||0||0
|-
|align=left|[[Democratic and Republican Alliance]]||3||3||1||1
|-
|align=left|[[Social Democratic Party (Gabon)|Social Democratic Party]]||0||1||2||2
|-
|align=left|[[People's Unity Party (Gabon)|People's Unity Party]]||1||0||–||–
|-
|align=left|[[Union of the Gabonese People]]||1||1||2||1
|-
|align=left|[[Gabon of the Future]]||–||1||0||0
|-
|align=left|[[Common Movement for Development]]||1||–||–||–
|-
|align=left|[[Circle of Liberal Reformers]]||1||4||2||7
|-
|align=left|[[Rally for Democracy and Progress (Gabon)|Rally for Democracy and Progress]]||1||1||–||–
|-
|align=left|[[Independent Centre Party of Gabon]]||0||1||2||1
|-
|align=left|[[Gabonese Union for Democracy and Development]]||–||–||3||–
|-
|align=left|Independents||8||3||9||7
|- class=sortbottom
|align=left|'''Total'''||'''91'''||'''91'''||'''102'''||'''100'''
|- class=sortbottom
|align=left colspan=5|Source: [http://www.stat-gabon.org/documents/PDF/Donnees%20stat/Compteannuaire/Ann0107d.pdf DSG] (1997, 2002), [http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2116_09.htm IPU] (2009), [http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2116_E.htm IPU] (2014)
|}

==See also==
* [[List of presidents of the Senate of Gabon]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.senatgabon.net/ Website of the Senate of Gabon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302152316/http://www.senatgabon.net/ |date=2016-03-02 }}

{{Gabon topics}}
{{National upper houses}}

[[Category:National upper houses|Gabon]]
[[Category:Government of Gabon]]
[[Category:1997 establishments in Gabon]]

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