Zacharie Myboto is a Gabon

Gabon

Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...

ese politician and President of the National Union (UN), an opposition party. He was the Administrative Secretary of the Gabonese Democratic Party

Gabonese Democratic Party

The Gabonese Democratic Party , is the ruling and dominant political party of Gabon. Its motto is Dialogue, Tolerance, Peace.It has held power since independence, first under Léon M'ba , then under Omar Bongo...

 (PDG) from 1972 to 1990 and served in the government from 1978 to 2001. After resigning from the government, he became an opposition leader, founding the Gabonese Union for Democracy and Development

Gabonese Union for Democracy and Development

The Gabonese Union for Democracy and Development is an political party in Gabon...

 (UGDD) in 2005 and placing third in the 2005 presidential election

Gabonese presidential election, 2005

Gabon held a presidential election on 27 November 2005. Incumbent President Omar Bongo Ondimba, in power since 1967 , sought another seven-year term against four other candidates. According to an announcement of results by the country's interior minister, Bongo won the election with 79.2% of the vote...

. He has been the President of the Group of the Forces of Change in the National Assembly

National Assembly of Gabon

The National Assembly of Gabon is the lower house of the Parliament of Gabon. It has 120 members, 111 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies and 9 members appointed by the President.-Latest results:...

 since 2007.

In February 2010, the UGDD merged with two other opposition parties to create the National Union, and Myboto became its President.

Political career in the PDG

Myboto was born at Omoï, Moanda

Moanda

Moanda is one of the largest towns in Gabon, lying on the N3 road in Haut Ogooué. It is also one of the most important manganese mining towns in the world, under the auspices of the Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué , which began mining in 1957...

, located in southeastern Gabon. He became a member of the PDG when it was founded in 1968, and he was Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Water and Forests from September 1968 to May 1971. He joined the PDG Political Bureau at the party's Constitutive Congress in September 1970. After working as Secretary-General of the Gabonese Marble Company (Société Gabonaise de Marbrerie, SOGAMAR) from May 1971 to November 1972, he became the PDG's Administrative Secretary in November 1972.

Later, Myboto was Secretary of State at the Presidency in charge of Information from 4 February 1978 to 26 February 1980 and Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Information, Posts and Telecommunications from February 1980 to 1981. He was then promoted to the position of Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications in 1981, and he held that post until February 1990, when he was instead appointed as Minister of Public Works, Equipment, Construction, and Urban and Regional Planning. After 17 years as the PDG's Administrative Secretary, he left that post in January 1990. In the September 1990 parliamentary election

Gabonese legislative election, 1990

Parliamentary elections were held in Gabon in 1990, the first multy-party elections in the country since 1967. The first round of voting was held on 16 September, with a second round due the following week. However, results from 32 of the 120 constituencies were annulled after public protests...

, he was elected to the National Assembly

National Assembly of Gabon

The National Assembly of Gabon is the lower house of the Parliament of Gabon. It has 120 members, 111 members elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies and 9 members appointed by the President.-Latest results:...

 as a PDG candidate from the second seat of Lemboumbi-Leyou Department

Lemboumbi-Leyou Department

Lemboumbi-Leyou is a department of Haut-Ogooué Province in south-eastern Gabon. The capital lies at Moanda....

 (Mounana

Mounana

Mounana is a town in Gabon with a population of about 8,000 people. It lies on the N3 road and from 1958 until the 1990s was a major uranium mining centre. The mine is now closed; it is now primarily a centre for agriculture....

), located in Haut Ogooué Province.

In June 1991, Myboto was moved to the position of Minister of Equipment and Construction; he was promoted to the rank of Minister of State for Equipment and Construction on 25 March 1994. In the December 1996 parliamentary election, he was elected to the National Assembly from the second seat of Lemboumbi-Leyou Department as a PDG candidate. He was then retained in the government as Minister of State for Equipment and Construction on 28 January 1997.

In opposition

After 23 years in the government, Myboto—who was considered one of the leading figures in the PDG regime—resigned from the government on 11 January 2001. He then took up his seat in the National Assembly on 1 March 2001. In the December 2001 parliamentary election

Gabonese legislative election, 2001

Gabon held a parliamentary election on 9 December 2001.-Results:...

, he was re-elected to the National Assembly from Mounana.

After leaving the government, Myboto became a critic of the government. He owned L'Autre Journal, a newspaper that was published bimonthly and included articles criticizing the government, but it was suspended by the National Communications Council in December 2003 on the grounds that some of its content could "disturb public order". The offices of L'Autre Journal were searched by the police in March 2004.

Having departed the government four years earlier, Myboto resigned from the PDG on 30 April 2005 and created a new party, the UGDD; as a result, he also resigned from the National Assembly at the same time. Referring to his long history of participation in the PDG regime, he asked the people to forgive his past mistakes. Myboto and members of his family were reportedly subjected to harassment after he left the party, and some of his relatives reportedly lost their government jobs.

On 9 October 2005, Myboto officially announced his candidacy for the 27 November 2005 presidential election

Gabonese presidential election, 2005

Gabon held a presidential election on 27 November 2005. Incumbent President Omar Bongo Ondimba, in power since 1967 , sought another seven-year term against four other candidates. According to an announcement of results by the country's interior minister, Bongo won the election with 79.2% of the vote...

 before a crowd of over 5,000 supporters. Fiercely critical of Bongo and the government, Myboto alleged that Bongo had won the December 1998 presidential election

Gabonese presidential election, 1998

Presidential elections were held in Gabon on 6 December 1998. Incumbent President Omar Bongo Ondimba, in power since 1967, sought a seven-year term against five other candidates...

 through fraud. Running as an independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 candidate (because the UGDD was not legalized prior to the election), he placed third out of five candidates, winning 6.58% of the vote. Following Bongo's victory, Myboto and second place candidate Pierre Mamboundou

Pierre Mamboundou

Pierre Mamboundou was a Gabonese politician. He was President of the Union of the Gabonese People , an opposition party in Gabon, from 1989 to 2011.-ACCT career and 1989 events:Mamboundou was born in Mouila...

 called for a general strike in early December, alleging fraud. Later in the month, they legally appealed against the results, asking that they be cancelled due to fraud. The Constitutional Court rejected the appeals on 5 January 2006, confirming Bongo's victory.

As a representative of the opposition, Myboto was included on the joint majority–opposition commission on the reform of the electoral process, which began its work in May 2006 and included 12 representatives from the Presidential Majority as well as 12 from the opposition. In the December 2006 parliamentary election

Gabonese legislative election, 2006

A legislative election was held in Gabon on 17 December 2006 ....

, he was elected to the National Assembly as the UGDD candidate in Mounana Commune. Following the election, he became the President of the Group of the Forces of Change (GFC), a parliamentary group composed of deputies from various opposition parties, in March 2007.

2009 events

President Bongo died on 8 June 2009. Myboto expressed condolences to his family and spoke respectfully of Bongo, referring to his work ensuring "stability and social peace" in Gabon. Regarding the organization of a new presidential election

Gabonese presidential election, 2009

A presidential election was held in Gabon on 30 August 2009 after the incumbent President Omar Bongo Ondimba died on 8 June 2009. While the constitution stated that Interim President Rose Francine Rogombé should organise elections within 30 to 45 days, the Constitutional Court accepted the...

, Myboto met with Interim President Rose Francine Rogombé

Rose Francine Rogombé

Rose Francine Rogombé is a Gabonese politician who was Acting President of Gabon from June 2009 to October 2009, following the death of long-time President Omar Bongo. She constitutionally succeeded Bongo due to her role as President of the Senate, a post to which she was elected in February 2009...

, together with other opposition leaders, on 24 June 2009. He said that he thought it was "physically impossible" to hold the election within the constitutional 45-day timeframe and spoke of instead holding an election in five to six months. Myboto announced on 20 July that he would stand as a candidate "for a transition" in the election, which was scheduled for 30 August 2009, and that he intended to serve only one term if elected.

In an interview with Radio France Internationale

Radio France Internationale

Radio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France by the Government of France, and replaced the Poste Colonial , Paris Mondial , Radio Paris , RTF Radio Paris and ORTF Radio Paris...

 on 24 August 2009, Myboto reiterated his "solemn commitment" to serving only one term of seven years if he won the election; he said that he would use that time to "put Gabon on track" and then "pass the baton" to a "properly elected and credible" successor. Pointing to his resignation from the government in 2001 (which he said was "not easy" to do), he stressed that in order to discourage the tendency of politicians to try to remain in office "forever", it was necessary to lead by example. Myboto also said that he would reform the constitution to restore the presidential two-term limit and "end the life presidency in Gabon". In the same interview, Myboto expressed grave doubts about the fairness of the election, saying that the electoral list was seriously inflated and fraudulent; nevertheless, he said it was still worthwhile to participate in the election so as to do "everything possible" to prevent "monarchy" (in reference to the PDG's nomination of Bongo's son Ali-Ben Bongo

Ali-Ben Bongo

Ali Bongo Ondimba is a Gabonese politician who has been President of Gabon since October 2009.Bongo is the son of Omar Bongo, who was President of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009...

 as its candidate). When asked what distinguished him from other opposition candidates, Myboto said that, by resigning from the government in 2001, he demonstrated that he "had the courage to say no to the late President Bongo"; he also stressed that he had acquired "long experience in people management and the management of public affairs" through his work as a minister in the government.

According to official results, Myboto placed fourth in the 2009 election with 3.94% of the vote, far behind the top three candidates; Ali Bongo won the election with 42% of the vote. Along with every other candidate (except Bongo), he signed a joint statement denouncing the results as fraudulent. Like the second and third place candidates, André Mba Obame

André Mba Obame

André Mba Obame is a Gabonese politician. After serving as an adviser to President Omar Bongo in the 1980s, he was a minister in the government of Gabon from 1990 to 1991 and again from 1997 to 2009; during that time, he was identified with the reformist wing of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party...

 and Mamboundou, he initially went into hiding amidst the violence that followed the announcement of results, although he soon emerged to attend an opposition meeting.

National Union

On 30 December 2009, the planned creation of a new, united opposition party was announced, and Myboto was among the various opposition leaders participating in it. Myboto then announced the creation of the new party, known as the National Union (Union nationale, UN), on 10 February 2010; the UN was created through the merger of the UGDD with two smaller parties, the African Development Movement

African Development Movement

The African Development Movement is a political party in Gabon, led by Pierre Claver Zeng Ebome. In the 9 December 2001 parliamentary election, the party won one out of 120 seats. In the 17 December/24 December 2006 parliamentary election, the party retained one out of 120 seats.MAD is part of the...

 (MAD) and the National Republican Rally (RNR). Also included in the new party were three major politicians who ran as independent candidates in the 2009 presidential election: Mba Obame, Casimir Oyé-Mba

Casimir Oyé-Mba

Casimir Marie Ange Oyé-Mba is a Gabonese politician. After serving as Governor of the Bank of Central African States from 1978 to 1990, Oyé-Mba was Prime Minister of Gabon from 3 May 1990 to 2 November 1994...

, and Jean Eyeghé Ndong

Jean Eyeghe Ndong

Jean Eyeghé Ndong is a Gabonese politician. He was the Prime Minister of Gabon from January 20, 2006 to July 17, 2009. He was also the First Vice-President of the Gabonese Democratic Party until 2009....

. When announcing the UN's creation, Myboto described it as "a historic moment", saying that "for the first time in our country, opposition parties have decided to come together for political change".