LIBREVILLE, Nov. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Gabon held presidential elections Sunday with "very low" turnout and incumbent President Bongo Ondimba was seeking another seven-year term after being in power for 38 years.

    Some 560,000 Gabonese have registered to vote in 1,990 polling centers out of a population estimated at around 1.5 million in the central African country.

    The polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and closed at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), but not many voters have come as most of the time there were only working staff in the polling stations and soldiers stood guard outside.

    "The turnout is very low," an electoral official in one of Libreville's polling centers told Xinhua before the poll closed.

    Head of the observers from OIF, the French-speaking countries' organization, Pierre Figeac praised the election process so far as generally normal and peaceful, saying his delegation has sent 12 observers throughout the country, and they will submit an assessment report later.

    Bongo and his wife turned up at a school in Libreville at round11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT), casting their ballots and then walking away without receiving any interviews from media.

    In his last campaign rally on Saturday, Bongo called on people to participate in the elections peacefully, and not to be deluded by opposition's provocation.

    Bongo is widely expected to win the elections which will prolong his 38 years rule in Gabon in the elections that are seen as a one-sided contest.

    "I will vote Bongo, because everything is going on well and there is peace in the country," said the 25-year-old Libreville resident Nelson Kuomnba.

    The other two opposition heavyweights are Zacharie Myboto, a former minister and close Bongo ally, and Pierre Mamboundou, a prominent opposition candidate who lost heavily to Bongo in the last elections in 1998.

    "I hope my children can grow up at a peaceful environment, so I will vote Bongo," said the 40-year-old lady Clementine, who is the mother of five children.

    "My husband works in the police station, and he had a good salary," she added. "My family is now living a decent life, so I want Bongo to continue bring peace to the country."

    However, a man who refused to give his name acknowledged that he had voted for Mamboundou. "Because I want change. Many people don't have jobs and are living a poor life," he said.

    The opposition held a large-scale rally on Saturday, wearing red T-shirts and showing small red cards, pretending referees in afootball match to give the president a penalty and drive him out of the court.

    "Forty years' peace just like peace in cemetery," the opposition supporters said.

    Mamboundou, in the last campaign rally on Saturday, urged people to cast ballots for dignity and responsibility, calling on his supporters to take care of the ballot boxes during the whole voting process.

    Bongo took office in November 28, 1967, succeeding the first president Leon M'ba who died in office in 1967, and he was reelected in 1973, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1993, and 1998.

    The president was to have stepped down, but in 2003, the constitution was amended by a parliament to enable him to seek reelection indefinitely.

    It also signed off on reducing the presidential election to a single round of voting, whereas previously if no-one won an absolute majority in the first ballot, there was a second round.

    The Gabonese Republic or Gabon, is a nation of central Africa. It borders on Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo and the Gulf of Guinea. It gained independence from France in 1960.

    A small population, abundant natural resources, and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the more prosperous countries in the region.

    Gabon is one of the few countries in central Africa that has never -- since its independence from France -- been affected by an armed conflict.

    Though the nation's economy is bolstered by exports of natural resources, people worry its backward agriculture and manufacturing industries, among others, will by no means give the country a sustainable and powerful momentum for its development.

    Analysts also say the social problems such as unemployment, high commodity price which makes Gabon's consumption rate among the world's top five countries, wealth gap between rich and poor, immigration, will be the challenges the country has to face in the future. Enditem