Pure and Simple Elections in Central African Republic

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Bangui, Central African Republic, Dec 30 (AFP/APP): A powerful opposition coalition in the Central African Republic on Wednesday called for the “cancellation, pure and simple” of weekend elections that were badly hampered by armed groups.

More than a third of the troubled country’s districts did not take part in Sunday’s first round of voting for the presidency and National Assembly, according to official figures.

In a statement, the Democratic Opposition Coalition (COD-2020), an alliance of political and other groups in the coup-prone country, said the elections “were not fair and inclusive and are in no way the expression of the people’s will.” Condemning an “electoral farce”, it claimed widespread ballot stuffing and complained of a lack of observers in remote areas of the mineral-rich but poor country.

The twin elections, which the government described Tuesday as “credible, committed and popular,” have been seen as a key stability test for the CAR. The landlocked nation, one of the world’s poorest, has seen a string of coups and wars since gaining independence from France in 1960.

In 2013, it spiraled once more into bloodshed when the then president, Francois Bozize, who had himself seized power a decade earlier, was overturned by a mostly Muslim coalition called the Seleka.

The frontrunner in the crowded field of 16 candidates for the presidency is the incumbent, Faustin Archange Touadera, who was elected in 2016 after a turbulent transition following the coup.

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