Central Africans began voting Sunday morning on a draft new constitution that would allow President Faustin Archange Touadéra to run for a third term in a country devastated by several coups.
Elected in 2016, Mr. Touadéra was re-elected in 2020 after a poll disrupted by rebel armed groups and marred by accusations of fraud.
The 66-year-old head of state is now accused by his opponents of wanting to remain “president for life” of one of the poorest countries on the planet, all under the protection of mercenaries from society. Wagner Russian private security forces deployed in the country since 2018.
Polling stations will close at 4:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT), for about 1.9 million voters. The provisional results must be published within eight days, and the Constitutional Court will announce the final results on August 27, according to the national electoral authority (ANE).
The crowd was low at the opening of the polling station at Lycée Barthélémy Boganda, located in Bangui, the capital, noted an AFP journalist.
Voters are invited to choose between a white ballot for the “yes” and “red” for the no.
The draft new Constitution notably plans to lengthen the duration of the presidential term from five to seven years, and abolishes the term limit.
No credible opinion poll can predict the outcome of the vote, but the victory of the “yes” is little in doubt.
“We know that the yes will win, but we are emphasizing participation,” Evariste Ngamana, vice-president of the National Assembly and spokesperson for the presidential majority, told AFP.
The main opposition parties and civil society organizations, as well as armed rebel groups, have called for a boycott of the poll.
The opposition denounces in particular the absence of an up-to-date electoral register and the lack of independence of the institutions responsible for guaranteeing the regularity of the results.
“The majority of the Central African population, which is struggling to survive in a difficult economic and security context, undoubtedly has other priorities than this referendum which mobilizes little outside the circles of power”, estimates Charles Bouessel, analyst for the International Crisis Group.
Mr. Touadéra announced that Russia and Rwanda, two states whose influence has grown considerably in recent years in the Central African Republic, were going to “support” the securing of the ballot.
A body linked to the Wagner group assured in July that several hundred of its fighters had arrived in the territory to carry out this mission.
“It’s a poll pushed by the Russians and organized with their help, the president of the Constitutional Court and that of the National Authority of the elections were invited to Russia where one suspects that they received instructions”, assures a diplomatic source to AFP.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), officials from the Russian Embassy in the Central African Republic visited the former President of the Constitutional Court to seek advice on how to amend the Constitution.
In September 2022, the Constitutional Court inflicted a legal setback on power by canceling the establishment of a Committee responsible for drafting a new Constitution.
The power then put the president of this court, Ms. Darlan, on compulsory retirement in January 2023.
Central African government officials threatened and harassed opponents of the referendum, according to HRW, and authorities banned an opposition demonstration in the capital.
Hundreds of Wagner’s mercenaries along with Rwandan soldiers were deployed in December 2020 to save the regime in Bangui from an offensive led by an alliance of the most powerful rebel groups, which they pushed back into rural areas.
07/30/2023 08:52:15 – Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
