ONE of Africa’s longest political dynasties looks set to extend its half century of rule, after sources inside Gabon’s electoral commission said yesterday that the incumbent president Ali Bongo had won another term with 49.85 percent of the vote.

    The commission was expected to announce that the opposition candidate Jean Ping, a half-Chinese diplomat, narrowly lost with 48.16 percent.

    Ping’s father, Cheng Zhiping, left his hometown of Wenzhou in China for France in the 1920s, according to Ping. Cheng later moved to Gabon’s Fernan-Vaz region and worked as a forestry operator. He met and married Ping’s mother, Germaine Anina, and Ping was born and raised in Gabon. He adopted part of his father’s name as his surname.

    Ping’s party, which claimed victory soon after the vote, rejected the claimed result.

    The national election commission (Cenap) was due to announce the result Tuesday, but delayed repeatedly and still had not declared the winner.

    (SD-Agencies)