The Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed President Faustin Archange Touadera’s victory in elections last month but said turnout, suppressed by armed groups, was little more than a third.
Chief Judge Daniele Darlan, validating results that gave Touadera 53.16% of the vote, said the 63-year-old “is proclaimed to be re-elected president.”
The court put the turnout at just 35.25%, a figure affected by the inability of many voters to cast their ballots.
The runner-up was former prime minister Anicet Georges Dologuele, with 21.69% of the vote. Touadera, a technocrat whose background is in mathematics, first took the helm in 2016 after a civil war that left thousands dead and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Two-thirds of the impoverished country is in the hands of armed groups, and Touadera relies on help from UN peacekeeping forces and military support from Russia and Rwanda.
On December 19, a newly forged coalition of militias tried to advance on the capital Bangui — an operation that Touadera said was an attempted coup fomented by his predecessor, Francois Bozize.
The court rejected a suit filed by 13 of the 16 other candidates, who argued that Touadera’s victory was the result of “massive fraud” and insecurity.
The court annulled or revised the results from certain polling stations because of irregularities.
But it said that “given the size of the gap in votes”, the impact “could not have affected” the overall outcome.
The court dismissed arguments that the vote lacked legitimacy.
“Part of the Central African people, who are at war, were prevented by acts of terror... and despite this, the people sent a strong and clear message to those who were terrorising them, to those who were telling them not to vote, and to the whole world,” Darlan said, reading from a statement.
On Sunday, a coalition of CAR’s main opposition political parties, COD 2020, accused the UN’s representative, Mankeur Ndiaye, of favouring Touadera.
It said, without providing any evidence, that the Constitutional Court “reportedly was pressured” by Ndiaye to declare Touadera victor, and urged the UN to launch a probe.
“We have not received any pressure, either from the president, or from the special representative of the UN secretary general, or from any embassy,” Darlan said.
Incumbent Central African Republic president President Faustin-Archange Touadera, speaks to reporters at the headquarters of his party, the Movement United Hearts (MCU) after the announcement of the validation of the results of the presidential election by the Constitutional Court in Bangui, yesterday.
