Mamboundou was elected as Mayor of
Ndendé in 1996, and he was also elected to the
National Assembly in the
December 1996 parliamentary election as a UPG candidate in
Ngounié Province. During the parliamentary term that followed, he was President of the United Democratic Forces Parliamentary Group. However, shortly before the election, HCR representative Aloise Obame accused Mamboundou of ordering the purchase of guns in
Congo-Brazzaville with the purpose of using them to destabilizing Gabon. Mamboundou denounced the claim as a "pack of lies" and described himself as Bongo's only credible opponent. In the election, he officially placed second behind Bongo, receiving 16.54% of the vote. He denounced the official results as an "electoral ''coup d'etat''" and called on the people to begin a "graduated response" by engaging in a stay at home ("ghost city") protest. While Mamboundou's call for people to stay at home was mostly ignored in
Libreville,
Port-Gentil was reportedly "paralysed". The UPG chose to boycott the
December 2001 parliamentary election, and consequently Mamboundou lost his seat in the National Assembly. Prior to the
29 December 2002 local elections, he denounced Bongo, the government, and the ruling
Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) as "a trio for the destruction of Gabon". He ran again in the
27 November 2005 presidential election and finished second to Bongo, winning 13.6% of the vote. Unlike many other opposition leaders, Mamboundou had consistently refused to compromise with Bongo and the PDG, increasing his credibility among many Gabonese. Prior to the 2005 election, UPG Secretary-General
Richard Moulomba claimed that Mamboundou was robbed of victory in 1998 and vowed that it would not happen again. The UPG said that opinion polls showed Mamboundou to be the most popular candidate, with Bongo trailing in third place. After official results were released showing Bongo with an overwhelming majority of the vote, Mamboundou and third place candidate
Zacharie Myboto immediately denounced the results as fraudulent. He and Myboto both appealed the results to the Constitutional Court; in his appeal, Mamboundou argued that the composition of the Constitutional Court was unconstitutional and that the appeal should be judged only once that body had been "renewed". When the Court considered the appeals in early January 2006, its Commissioner for Law recommended the dismissal of Mamboundou's complaint; Mamboundou angrily declared that to be "shameful for the Republic" and walked out.
Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, the President of the Constitutional Court, then accused Mamboundou of "public insults against judges" and "clear threats". Mamboundou's appeal was rejected by the Court, along with Myboto's.
2006–2011 events Searching for arms, security forces entered the UPG headquarters in Awendjé on 31 March 2006 and arrested 15 members of the party. (They were later released without charge.) Mamboundou then fled to the
South African Embassy in Libreville. After leaving the embassy, he met with President Bongo on 19 April 2006; he described the meeting as historic and said that Bongo was open to dialogue. some argued that he had softened his opposition. By June 2007, he had met with Bongo five times. Bongo agreed to give him 11 billion
CFA francs for the development of Ndendé. As a representative of the opposition, Mamboundou was included on the joint majority–opposition commission on the reform of the electoral process, which began its work in May 2006 and included 12 representatives from the Presidential Majority and 12 from the opposition. In the
December 2006 parliamentary election, Mamboundou was elected to the National Assembly as the UPG candidate in Ndendé constituency, located in the
Dola Department of
Ngounié Province. In the National Assembly, he became President of the UPG Parliamentary Group after the election. Under the Constitution he could not hold more than one elective office and therefore had to step down as Mayor of Ndendé in order to retain his seat in the National Assembly.
Fidèle Mouloungui Moussavou, also from the UPG, was elected to succeed him as Mayor on 21 May 2007. On 19 July 2009, following President Bongo's death on 8 June, Mamboundou was designated as the candidate of the Alliance for Change and Restoration opposition coalition for the
30 August 2009 presidential election. Aside from the UPG, this coalition included the
National Alliance of Builders (ANB), the
Union for the New Republic (UPRN), the
National Rally of Woodcutters (RNB), and the
Gabonese Socialist Party (PSG). Mamboundou declared that "Gabon needs another new way to govern". During the electoral campaign, Mamboundou said on 20 August 2009 that Gabon did not need a
Senate and that he would seek the abolition of the Senate through referendum if he were elected. Still leading the UPG, Mamboundou died suddenly on 15 October 2011. ==References==