Army officers have appeared on national television in Gabon to say they have taken power.
The electoral commission said Mr Bongo had won just under two-thirds of the votes in an election the opposition argued was fraudulent.
Bongo had contested against 18 challengers, six of whom backed a joint nominee, former minister and university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, in an effort to narrow the race. Bongo’s team rejected allegations of fraud.
His overthrow would end his family’s 53-year hold on power in Gabon.
Twelve soldiers appeared on television announcing they were cancelling the results of the election and dissolving “all the institutions of the republic”.
One of the soldiers said on TV channel Gabon 24: “We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime.”
This, he added, was down to “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos”.
Mr Bongo came to power when his father Omar died in 2009.
If successful, the coup would represent the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. Coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger have undermined democratic progress in recent years.
Last month, the military snatched power in Niger, sending shockwaves across the Sahel and sucking in global powers with strategic interests at stake.
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