age and declining health. Agondjo Okawé died in August 2005, and the PGP experienced internal disagreement regarding its choice of a presidential candidate. Pierre Mamboundou, who officially placed second in the December 1998 presidential elections, ran again as the candidate of the opposition Union of the Gabonese People (UPG). UPG Secretary-General Richard Moulomba claimed that Mamboundou was robbed of victory in 1998 and vowed that it would not happen again, warning that "if Omar Bongo and his cronies actually try to pull off the fraud they're preparing, what will happen, will happen." The UPG said that opinion polls showed Mamboundou to be the most popular candidate, with Bongo trailing in third place. Myboto, who was for years a leading figure in the PDG regime, resigned from the party in April 2005. On 9 October 2005, he officially announced his candidacy before a crowd of over 5,000 supporters. Although he had founded the Gabonese Union for Democracy and Development earlier in the year, it had not been recognised by the authorities, resulting in him running as an independent. Fiercely critical of Bongo and the government, Myboto alleged that Bongo had won the 1998 elections through fraud. He said that the government was seeking to depict the opposition as "irresponsible", but that in fact "they are the ones who want to set this country ablaze and they want us to be held responsible for what they are preparing." A Libreville rally in support of Myboto in early November was prevented by soldiers. Results Interior Minister Clotaire-Christian Ivala announced results on television on the evening of 29 November. According to these results, Bongo was overwhelmingly re-elected with over 79% of the vote, while Mamboundou and Myboto trailed distantly in second and third place respectively. Mamboundou and Myboto immediately denounced the results as fraudulent. International observers generally endorsed the elections as acceptable. The National Electoral Commission placed turnout at 63.29%, although a western diplomat in Gabon said that it was probably about 30–35%. Low turnout had been widely anticipated by observers due to the popular feeling that Bongo would inevitably win the elections. Aftermath Mamboundou and Myboto held a press conference on 1 December and said that the elections were marred by a variety of irregularities: "Ballot-stuffing, multiple votes including in the name of deceased people, influence peddling, vote buying, and outsiders posing as Gabonese to cast a ballot." They urged "the Gabonese people