Ten candidates for the presidential election in the Central African Republic won by the outgoing Faustin-Archange Touadéra demanded Tuesday, January 5 the "outright cancellation" of the ballot in which only one in two voters was able to participate and marred, according to them, "many irregularities ".
On Monday evening, the Elections Authority (ANE) declared Faustin-Archange Touadéra reelected in the first round with 53.92% of the vote, but this result has yet to be certified by the Constitutional Court after the contentious appeals.
"We demand the outright cancellation and resumption" of the presidential and legislative elections of December 27, ten opposition candidates wrote in a statement.
"Many irregularities"
On the day of this double ballot, the vote could only take place or be taken into account in less than one in two offices in a country in civil war for eight years, two-thirds controlled by armed groups, including principal launched a new offensive eight days before the elections.
The ten candidates report "many irregularities which punctuated the polls", including many exemptions granted by the ANE to voters to vote elsewhere than in their constituency.
They add that "out of a total of 1,858,436 registered (...), only 695,019 were able to vote, corresponding to a participation rate of 37% and not of 76.31% announced by the ANE".
Therefore, "we do not recognize the results published by the ANE", continue the 10 candidates, including Anicet Georges Dologuélé and Martin Ziguélé, two former prime ministers who came respectively second and third according to the ANE, out of 17 contenders in total .
With AFP
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