Central African Republic votes as Touadera seeks third presidential term

The incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera is slated to win another term in the conflict-ridden nation in the Central African Republic (CAR) presidential election.

With 2.3 million voters expected to elect their president, legislators, as well as municipal and regional representatives, polling stations opened at 05:00 GMT on Sunday and will close at 17:00 GMT.

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The first round of voting is likely to favor Touadera, who has been in office since 2016. A runoff election will be held, however, if no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.

Following a contentious constitutional referendum that gave him the right to serve additional terms, the 68-year-old incumbent is running for office in 2023.

With the exception of Anicet-Georges Dologuele, a former prime minister, and critic Henri-Marie Dondra, who were unable to fly to the provinces to hold rallies, the campaign went on without significant incidents.

Police, army, and Russian Wagner Group mercenaries were frequently stationed on the streets of the capital, which contributed significantly to the city’s abundance of security forces.

The state is on the verge of collapse as a result of a civil war that has been ongoing since 2013 and has occasionally seen armed groups rule large portions of the nation.

Recent years, international peacekeeping missions, including those led by the UN mission in the CAR and MINUSCA, as well as military support from Russia and Rwanda.

However, rebels continue to operate, particularly in the Sudanese and South Sudanese border regions.

In the nation of about 5.5 million people, local elections are held on Sunday in addition to the presidential election, parliamentary elections, and for the first time in decades.

In a vote that was hampered by fraud allegations and the uprising of six rebel groups that tried to overthrow the government, Touadera won re-election in 2020.

Due to the intervention of the Rwandan army and Russian mercenaries, the rebels were forced to retreat.

rallies that are “Organized”

According to political scientist and activist Paul Crescent Beninga, “orchestrated” rallies have taken place all over the nation in support of the idea that Touadera has a lot of popular support.

The incumbent’s image has been flooded the capital, with giant T-shirts, neon signs, and other similar T-shirts everywhere you turn up.

While Touadera organized rallies in Bangui’s stadium, his two most vocal critics preferred neighborhood walkabouts and events at their party offices.

Dologuele and Dondra also faced allegations that they were citizens of another country.

Candidates must be single-nationals in order to be eligible under the 2023 constitutional change introduced by Touadera.

Dologuele, who had previously run for the top job in 2020, was given his CAR passport in mid-October despite the court’s decision to remove his French citizenship. He filed a complaint with the UN’s human rights office as a result.