Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge (born 5 May 1946) is a Gabonese politician who was Vice-President of Gabon from 1997 to 2009. He is the President of the Democratic and Republican Alliance (ADERE), a political party. As Vice-President of Gabon, Divungi Di Ndinge exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from May 2009 to June 2009, while President Omar Bongo Ondimba was hospitalized. Political career Divungi Di Ndinge, a member of the Punu ethnic group, was born in Alombié, near Port-Gentil in western Gabon. An engineer by profession, specializing in electricity, he began working at the Energy and Water Company of Gabon (SEEG) in 1972, initially as assistant to the Technical Director. He rose rapidly at SEEG and became its Director-General in 1974, remaining in that post until 1981. He was also a ministerial delegate and adviser to President Bongo from 1978 to 1981. Divungi Di Ndinge then served in the government as Minister of Energy and Hydraulic Resources from 1981 to 1990; he was a member of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) during that time. He joined the opposition in 1990, becoming Secretary-General of ADERE in 1993. He was the ADERE candidate in the December 1993 presidential election; he announced his candidacy on 12 October 1993, and in the election he received 2.2% of the vote. After the 1993 election, ADERE joined the Presidential Majority. Divungi Di Ndinge became Mayor of Mouila in 1996, and he was also elected to the National Assembly as an ADERE candidate in Ngounié Province in the December 1996 parliamentary election. He was then appointed by Bongo as Vice-President of Gabon in May 1997 and consequently stepped down from his posts as Mayor of Mouila and as a Deputy in the National Assembly. In his role as Vice-President, he acted as the deputy of the President of the Republic, but he was not the constitutional successor to the Presidency in the event of a vacancy in the office. Following the re-election of President Bongo in the December 1998 presidential election, he resigned as required by the constitution, but was reappointed on 23 January 1999 after Bongo took office for his new term. Divungi Di Ndinge survived an alleged assassination attempt at the Mouila airport on 20 January 2003. Following the November 2005 presidential election, Bongo reappointed him as Vice-President in January 2006. On 10 October 2007, Divungi Di Ndinge was evacuated to the American