Towards a constitutional referendum in the Central African Republic: contrasting reactions from the political class

View of PK0, the center of downtown Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.

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Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

In the Central African Republic, the Constitutional Court on Friday January 20 declared the law relating to the organization of referendums passed on December 28 by the deputies to be constitutional.

Contrasting reactions in Bangui between government support and opposition to President Touadéra.   

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The court had been seized by President Touadéra himself for a constitutional review.

It is therefore authorized to promulgate this text which opens the way to the organization of a constitutional referendum.

Remember that last September, the court opposed the process of writing a new fundamental law.

At the end of October, the president of the institution

Danièle Darlan

had been automatically retired.

To read also

: In the Central African Republic, the National Assembly oversees the organization of referendums

If for the supporters of President Faustin Archange Touadéra, this new decision of the Court is one more step towards a new Constitution that they want, for his opponents, it is one more blow to the institutions.

To read also

: In the Central African Republic, what will the year 2023 be made of?

Quickly a referendum for Heir Doneng

Héritier Doneng

, president of the Republican Front, a movement that supports the head of state, shows his satisfaction.

We must now quickly organize a referendum, he explains, joined by

Amélie Tulet

, of the Africa editorial staff. 

"

We look forward to this referendum taking place as soon as possible.

We want this referendum to take place by March.

This referendum must take place, it will allow us to carry out institutional reforms and give the chance to all Central Africans to fully participate in this process and for the country to be in the state that we have always wanted.

This constitutional reform is only intended to achieve a bright future for the Central African Republic, not political ambitions.

For us, we said that this Constitution no longer fits our economic realities, it is an outdated Constitution, it is a discriminatory Constitution.

The people today have confidence in this constitutional reform,

.

»

The current constitutional court is " 

illegitimate 

" for Martin Ziguélé 

For the BRDC coalition (for Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution) on the other hand, this decision of the Constitutional Court is worthless.

For MP

Martin Ziguélé

, spokesperson for the BRDC, since the President of the Court, Danièle Darlan, was automatically retired in October, the current Constitutional Court is no longer legitimate, it is "

under orders

of President Touadéra, he explains at the microphone of

Amélie Tulet

.

"

For us, the Constitutional Court is illegitimate, all the acts it will take for us are illegitimate acts.

No referendum will take place without the opposition of the BRDC and all the parties and associations.

We will explain to the Central African people that we must say “no”: a State is the law, a State is justice and the State is respect for the Constitution.

We cannot endorse an approach that tends to question the hierarchy of standards in our country.

It is an anti-democratic approach that we can only fight.

It is President Touadéra who wants the Constitution to be amended to obtain a third term, that is the goal of the process!

What we are going to do: we are going to continue to mobilize the population because we are not simply in 1979 where,

.

»

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  • Central African Republic

  • Faustin-Archange Touadera