Elections in Gabon take place within the framework of a presidential multi-party democracy with the Gabonese Democratic Party, in power since independence, as the dominant party. The President and National Assembly are directly elected, whilst the Senate is indirectly elected. Electoral history Pre-independence Following World War II, Gabon (in a combined constituency with French Congo, began to elect members to the French National Assembly. The first elections took place in October 1945, with voters split into two colleges; the First College for French citizens and the Second for non-citizens. Gabriel d'Arboussier was elected by the First College, and although Gabonese politician Jean-Hilaire Aubame received the most votes in the Second College, the election went to a second round, where he was beaten by the Congolese Jean-Félix Tchicaya. The next elections were held in June the following year, with d'Arboussier defeated by Henri Seignon in the First College and Tchicaya re-elected in the Second. Another election was held in November that year, with the Second College gaining an extra seat, and now split into Congolese and Gabonese sections. Maurice Bayrou was elected by the still-combined First College, whilst Aubame was elected in the Gabonese Second College seat on a French Section of the Workers' International ticket. A third election in 1946 took place in December when the Representative Assembly was elected; it also used a college system, with 12 members elected by the First College and 18 by the Second. The next French elections took place in 1951, with Bayrou re-elected in the First College and Aubame in the Second. The Representative Council was converted into a Territorial Assembly prior to the 1952 elections, with Aubame's Gabonese Democratic and Social Union (UDSG) winning 14 of the 24 seats. Bayrou and Aubame were both re-elected again in the 1956 French elections. The final national elections in the colonial period were the Territorial Assembly elections of 1957. Although the UDSG emerged as the largest party, winning 14 of the 40 seats, the Gabonese Democratic Bloc (BDG), which had won eight seats, was able to form a 21-seat coalition together with an affiliated list and five independents. This resulted in the BDG's Léon M'ba becoming Prime Minister, and President when the country became independent in 1960. Post-independence Following independence, the President became a directly elected post, with the National Assembly elected every three years and the President every six. In the first post-independence elections