CAR votes to elect new president
Central African Republic (CAR) citizens turned out to vote for a new president and a new parliament on Sunday.
CAR’s second-round of presidential and parliamentary elections followed the annulment of the results of the first-round of voting in December 2015.
The annulment came in the wake of accusations of fraud and irregularities, including the alleged involvement of candidates.
The two candidates in Sunday’s running, Faustin Touadera and Georges Anicet Dologuele, who scored the highest votes last December, both pledged to restore peace and invigorate the economy as voting got off to a slow start Sunday morning but picked up later in the day, reported the BBC.
“There were 30 candidates in the first round of the presidential election, 20 of whom have since said they are backing Touadera while three say they’re backing Dologuele,” reported the Voice of America (VOA).
CAR has been racked by civil war since Muslim rebels seized power in 2013 with the north-east mostly under the control of the rebels and Christians militias dominating in the south-west.
After regional pressure, an interim administration took charge in January 2014 and later that year a 10,000-strong UN force took over the peacekeeping mission.
“Thousands died in the fighting and roughly a fifth of the population is thought to have been displaced.”
Results of Sunday’s elections are only expected to be fully counted in the next few weeks.