Incumbent President Omar Bongo, in power since 1967 (making him Africa's longest-serving ruler), sought another seven-year term against four other candidates.

[4] He made a series of gestures to alleviate poverty, such as saying that 100,000 households would be provided free water and electricity for one month, and money was frequently distributed at his campaign rallies.

[6] Agondjo Okawé died in August 2005, and the PGP experienced internal disagreement regarding its choice of a presidential candidate.

[4] 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).

[8] 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.

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.

Low turnout had been widely anticipated by observers due to the popular feeling that Bongo would inevitably win the elections.

On 2 December, the government urged the opposition to accept the results, "renounce anything that might upset public order and instead turn their eyes to future.

The elimination of that polling station's votes was insufficient to affect the outcome, and Bongo's victory was confirmed with an official score of 79.18%.