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Central African Republic's President Reelected for Third Term
(MENAFN) Central African Republic's incumbent leader Faustin-Archange Touadera has clinched a controversial third presidential term after capturing a landslide 76.15% of votes cast in December's election, the National Electoral Authority announced Monday in provisional tallies.
The decisive win marks a dramatic increase from Touadera's previous electoral performances—he first seized power in 2016 before securing reelection in 2020 with 53.16% in the opening round. His latest victory comes after a 2023 constitutional referendum controversially scrapped term limits and extended presidential mandates to seven years, clearing the path for his continued grip on power.
The 68-year-old former mathematics professor anchored his campaign on territorial security achievements, pointing to military partnerships with Russian security forces—reorganized remnants of the Wagner Group—and Rwandan troops as key to wresting control from rebel factions and brokering recent peace agreements. These alliances have significantly expanded Moscow's foothold in the resource-laden nation, granting Russia strategic access to lucrative mineral deposits including gold, diamonds, lithium, and uranium.
International monitors from the African Union and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) characterized election day as predominantly peaceful, though violence persisted in certain eastern territories.
The election unfolded without participation from the primary opposition alliance, the Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution (BRDC), which rejected the vote as fundamentally compromised and refused to field candidates.
Opposition figures who did compete—including Anicet-Georges Dologuele, a former prime minister and opposition leader, and ex-prime minister Henri-Marie Dondra—leveled accusations against government officials for imposing campaign barriers, including prohibitions on travel to provincial areas.
The Constitutional Court faces a January 20 deadline to either certify the outcome or resolve contested claims. While opposition factions have alleged electoral fraud, no major post-vote violence has emerged thus far. Touadera's extended presidency consolidates authority in one of the globe's most impoverished nations while amplifying alarm over eroding democratic institutions and expanding foreign interference against a backdrop of tenuous stability.
The decisive win marks a dramatic increase from Touadera's previous electoral performances—he first seized power in 2016 before securing reelection in 2020 with 53.16% in the opening round. His latest victory comes after a 2023 constitutional referendum controversially scrapped term limits and extended presidential mandates to seven years, clearing the path for his continued grip on power.
The 68-year-old former mathematics professor anchored his campaign on territorial security achievements, pointing to military partnerships with Russian security forces—reorganized remnants of the Wagner Group—and Rwandan troops as key to wresting control from rebel factions and brokering recent peace agreements. These alliances have significantly expanded Moscow's foothold in the resource-laden nation, granting Russia strategic access to lucrative mineral deposits including gold, diamonds, lithium, and uranium.
International monitors from the African Union and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) characterized election day as predominantly peaceful, though violence persisted in certain eastern territories.
The election unfolded without participation from the primary opposition alliance, the Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution (BRDC), which rejected the vote as fundamentally compromised and refused to field candidates.
Opposition figures who did compete—including Anicet-Georges Dologuele, a former prime minister and opposition leader, and ex-prime minister Henri-Marie Dondra—leveled accusations against government officials for imposing campaign barriers, including prohibitions on travel to provincial areas.
The Constitutional Court faces a January 20 deadline to either certify the outcome or resolve contested claims. While opposition factions have alleged electoral fraud, no major post-vote violence has emerged thus far. Touadera's extended presidency consolidates authority in one of the globe's most impoverished nations while amplifying alarm over eroding democratic institutions and expanding foreign interference against a backdrop of tenuous stability.
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