AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2016 A supporter of Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping prays in front of security forces blocking a demonstration trying to reach the electoral commission in Libreville on August 31, 2016 as another protestor lays on the ground in distress. Bongo won by a narrow 5,594 votes of a total 627,805 registered voters. Turnout was 59.46 percent nationwide but soared to 99.93 percent in one of the country's nine provinces -- the Haut-Ogooue, heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group -- in a result hotly contested by the opposition. / AFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI