(CNN) Gabon President Ali Bongo has been sworn in for a second 7-year term following a disputed election that sparked deadly violence and uncertainty for the Central African nation.
Bongo took his oath of office at a ceremony in the capital of Libreville Tuesday. The start of the president's second term comes after the country's Constitutional Court validated the results of the August election that declared him the winner, according to a statement by the Gabonese government.
Presidential candidate Jean Ping casts his ballot at the Martine Oulabou school in Libreville during Gabon's presidential election on August 27, 2016.
"I pledge to devote all my efforts to the good of the Gabonese people, to ensure their well-being," Bongo said during the ceremony. "To respect and protect the Constitution and the rule of law, to conscientiously fulfill the duty of my office and to be fair to all."
Bongo's main challenger, opposition leader Jean Ping, called the court's decision "biased" for "pointedly ignoring the urgent calls for transparency launched by the national and international community."
The reality of elections in Africa
This summer has seen a number of closely contested elections across Africa. In Gabon, the national election in August sparked
post election protests outside the parliament building in Libreville after sitting president Ali Bongo won by less than 6000 votes -- a result highly contested by the opposition.
The results, released August 31, show that Bongo won 49.8% of the vote, while Jean Ping, the opposition leader, had 48.23%. Ping and his supporters
say the numbers are fraudulent and demand a recount. This sparked protests in France too. Pictured here, a woman waves a Gabonese flag during a demonstration in Paris in September.
The unrest resulted in deadly violence, arrests and media black outs. Here,
a man traditionally dressed with banana leaves joins mourners paying their respects at an altar for those who died.
Zambians also went to the polls in August for their general elections. Pictured here, a Zambian woman casts her ballot at a polling station in a school.
The results were contested by the opposition who
filed a petition in the country's constitutional court claiming the vote was rigged. Pictured here, a woman casts her vote in the capital, Lusaka, on August 11.
The presidential candidate Edgar Lungu of Zambia's ruling party Patriotic Front waves to the crowd as he arrives to cast his ballot on the day of the election.
He was sworn in earlier this month for another five years.
In South Africa, the opposition party the Democratic Alliance
won a number of new districts in this year's local elections including Nelson Mandela Bay and Johannesburg.
The election saw the African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled the country since the end of apartheid, suffer significant losses in votes, prompting them to form a coalition. Nationally, the ANC garnered 53.9% of the vote. The Democratic Alliance got almost 27% while the distant third-placed Economic Freedom Fighters' party had 8.2%.
Earlier this month Ping formally filed an appeal with the court that alleged election fraud. Ping lost the presidential bid by a mere 6,000 votes -- less than 2 percentage points.
The protests that followed the initial results announcement turned deadly. Bongo's re-election extends his family's half-century rule over the oil-rich nation of 1.8 million.