“I have the feeling of accomplishment”: it is around 9 a.m. in Bangui (Central African Republic), when surrounded by dozens of armed men from the presidential guard, the Rwandan contingent of Minusca (the United Nations mission in the Central African Republic), and Wagner’s paramilitaries, Central African President Faustin Archange Touadéra slipped his ballot into the ballot box at polling station No. 1 at Lycée Barthélémy Boganda. He leads by example. While one of the main issues of the ballot, Sunday, July 30, is the turnout, the Head of State hopes that the population will come in large numbers to adopt his Constitution.
As a fighter plane delivered by Russia flies low over the Central African capital, the head of state says he is confident: “the people will vote for the new fundamental law” which should allow him to run for as many mandates as he wishes. “The country has been calm since he’s been there, notes Elsa Sawa, a 29-year-old management student, so I’m willing for him to stay as long as Paul Biya in Cameroon [in power since 1982]. Stability for development is the main argument of the supporters of the “yes” to the new Constitution, many of whom struggle to comment in detail on the content of the text.
In the polling stations, white “yes” ballots and bright red “no” ballots quietly awaited voters. The latter were desired all day long, even in neighborhoods known to be strongholds of the ruling party. Usually bubbling with activity to the point that it is difficult to move through its alleys, the desert market of PK5, the Muslim quarter of Bangui, considered the economic lung of the country, was unrecognizable. All the shops were closed and the locals politely declined interviews.
“The terms ‘is of Central African origin one whose parents are also of Central African origin’ contained in the new fundamental law have made Muslims fear that they will again be excluded or considered as foreigners”, explains Ismaïl Lawane, head of Yaloma district, at PK5. “This provision was finally withdrawn but doubt and distrust remain among some of our fellow citizens,” he continues. Participation, however, is the only real unknown; it will determine the legitimacy of the new basic law. From their phones, opposition executives flooded social networks with images showing deserted polling stations, shots impossible to authenticate.
State of emergency
The opposition chose to boycott the election, judging that it was only a pretext to offer “a presidency for life” to the head of state elected for the first time in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. “The Constitution said: two terms. Changing like that is not good. What country do we live in? asks Marie as she finishes her cassava dish with peanut sauce. She did not go to vote and asks us to keep her last name quiet. In Lakouanga, his district of Bangui, almost no one dares to claim to be abstaining, even those who have no trace of ink on their fingers. “People are scared,” Eloge, an activist with the opposition party Union for Central African Renewal, said before being interrupted by the roar of an army helicopter. “We vote under pressure,” he continues.
Throughout the day, the security system was reinforced. Police and soldiers were deployed in each polling station. Dozens of presidential guard pickups sped through the deserted avenues of the capital. On one of the vehicles floated a scarlet flag marked with a Z, the emblem of Russia. The paramilitary company Wagner, established in the country since 2018, was involved in the organization of the ballot but during the vote their presence was discreet in the capital. At the start of the evening, Alexandre Ivanov, who speaks on behalf of the mercenaries in Bangui, welcomed the good conduct of the ballot and a “very high turnout”.
The provisional results of the referendum must be published within eight days, and the Constitutional Court will announce the final results on August 27. In Bangui, no one doubts that the “yes” will largely prevail.