Gabon's Electoral Commission isscheduled to announce the winner of last Sunday's presidential election Wednesday.
Securityhas been tightened ahead of the announcement as supporters of the twomain opposition candidates began gathering at their offices.
Pierre Mamboundou of the opposition Alliancefor Change and Restoration (ACR) and independent candidate Andre Mba Obame haveboth condemned the heavy security presence.
DesireEname, publisher of Gabon independentEchos Dunord newspaper said all of the three leading presidentialcandidates have appealed for calm ahead of the electoral body's announcement.
"Theelectoral commission is going to meet this morning Wednesday to see of theresult and I think that to make sure that the incumbent and (others) at theelections will be represented. And they will see the total way the electionwent on? and I think we will have the results in the night," Enamesaid.
He said one of theopposition presidential contenders has appealed to his supporters to respectthe electoral commission.
"Mr. Andre Mba Obame askedhis people to be (calm) and to let the electoral commission to work," he said.
Enamesaid the ruling party candidate and son of the late Gabonese President isalready claiming victory.
"Mr. Ali Bongo said that hehas won (the election) and that the electoral commission and their officersshould deliver the results," Ename said.
He said the other oppositioncandidate heaped praise on his supporters.
"Mr. Pierre Mamboundouthanked the people for having (confidence in him) and so on and so forth," hesaid.
Enamesaid Gabonese are anxiously awaiting the results of the vote.
"Most of the people arewaiting for the results to be given. And I think that people are reallydetermined to see real change in the country," Ename said.
He said partisans of theruling party have been unusually quiet.
"There is no explosion ofjoy from the part of the PDG (Gabon Democratic Party) theparty in power," he said.
Ename said Gabonese wantequitable distribution of their country's oil-wealth.
"Yes exactly, this is whatthey want. They want strong distribution of the wealth of the country. We can'tunderstand that a country like Gabon (which) is so wealthy but poverty is morelike 90 percent?most of the people live in shanty towns. So there is a totaldiscrepancy between the wealth of the country and what has been done," Enamesaid.
Meanwhile, politicalobservers say for the first time in as many years, there seems to be no clearcandidate to win last Sunday's vote.