CAR: idea to extend Touadéra's mandate due to controversial coronavirus

Central African President Faustin Archange Touadéra (illustration image) REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin

Text by: RFI Follow

The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for December 27, but the coronavirus epidemic in particular raises the question of the organization of elections on time. For several days there has been rumors in Bangui of a petition to the National Assembly to extend the mandate of President Touadéra.

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With our correspondent in Bangui, Charlotte Cosset

It is not a petition but an initiative taken by several deputies according to 2nd vice-president of the National Assembly. We must prepare for a possible shift in the ballot, explains Mathurin Dimbélé.

“ We are in the process of anticipating a scenario caused by this pandemic which is imposed on everyone. We propose the following solution. That when the current electoral process is stopped for force majeure it is necessary that the head of state remains in place until the resumption of the electoral process and until the installation of the next President of the Republic. And it is the same for the National Assembly and for all the other institutions . "

The opposition is skeptical. " COD 2020 expresses its concern over Touadéra's desire to tamper with the Constitution in order to stay in power," explains Maître Nicolas Tiangaye, spokesperson for the opposition coalition. It is technically impossible from a legal point of view to extend the mandate of the President of the Republic. This is why we think that the question of the extension of the mandate of the President of the Republic is a question of extreme gravity because it will cause instability in the country. "

Mathurin Dimbélé ensures that the bill provides for an assumed sliding of 6 months maximum. She would already have the support of more than 100 deputies and should be tabled very soon at the office of the National Assembly.

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  • Central africa
  • Faustin-Archange Touadéra
  • Coronavirus

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