Ali Bongo Ondimba entered the political life of Gabon in 1981. Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1991, he has occupied the position of Minister of Defence since 1999. He has been Vice Chairman of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) since the 8th Congress in 2003. On July 15, 2009, the Party appointed Ali Bongo Ondimba the official candidate of the PDG for the early presidential election on 30 August 2009.

The son of the late President Omar Bongo and of Patience Dabany, Ali Bongo was born in Brazzaville on 9 February 1959. He is married to Sylvia, with whom he has four children: one daughter, Malika Bongo Ondimba and three sons, Noureddin Bongo Ondimba, Jalil Bongo Ondimba and lastly Bilal Bongo Ondimba, adopted by the couple in 2002.

After studying Law in Paris, he entered politics by joining the PDG in 1981. On the occasion of the 3rd Extraordinary Congress of the Party, in 1983, he was elected to the Central Committee of the PDG. The following year, he entered the Policy Bureau of the Party in the capacity of Personal representative of his father. He was elected to it in September 1986 at the conclusion of the ordinary congress of the Party.

In 1989, Ali Bongo was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. He stood as a candidate for the PDG at the parliamentary elections of 1990, first elections organised after the instigation of the multi-party system in Gabonese politics. He was elected as a member of the National Assembly in the Province of Haut-Ogooué.

In 1991, Ali Bongo was forced to step down as Minister of Foreign Affairs after two years in office, following an amendment of the Constitution stipulating the minimum age of 35 for ministerial functions. After leaving the government, Ali Bongo devoted his time to his role of member of the National Assembly.

In February 1992, he organised a visit to Gabon of the American pop star, the late Michael Jackson.

The Superior Council for Islamic Affairs of Gabon (CSAIG) appointed him to its head in 1996. In December of the same year, he was reappointed PDG candidate to the National Assembly for the province of Haut-Ogooué. He was re-elected in 1996.

After holding a seat in the National Assembly for more than seven years, Ali Bongo was appointed Minister of National Defense on 25th June 1999.

He was re-elected once more as member for the Province of Haut-Ogooué in 2001. Two years later he became Vice-president of the PDG. At the presidential elections in 2005, Ali Bongo was actively involved in his father's re-election campaign, under the responsibility of the Coordinator General for Youth.

The same year, Ali Bongo was re-elected as representative of the Party for Haut-Ogooué, while retaining his ministerial portfolio at National Defence. At the 9th Extraordinary Congress of the Party, in 2008, he was re-elected Vice-president of the PDG. The Party’s candidate for the presidential elections on 30 August 2009, he was elected President of the Republic of Gabon and inaugurated on 16 October 2009.