Bangui – Opposition leader Anicet-George Dologuele on Wednesday said official election results in the Central African Republic showing Faustin-Archange Touadera had won a third term as president were down to “massive fraud”.
Dologuele, his main opponent, came second with 15 percent.
“I’m speaking out to refuse a lie,” Dologuele told journalists in the capital Bangui.
“I’m speaking out not out of political calculation but out of a duty towards the Central African people,” he added.
He said the declared results “do not reflect the people’s vote, but are the product of massive, organised, methodical fraud, covered up by the ANE itself”.
He accused the ANE of having “failed in its mission” and “deliberately given up its independence by serving a candidate”.
Dologuele, who is also a former prime minister, said he was awaiting final results from the constitutional council — expected later this month — and that he did not rule out taking action to lodge an appeal.
Turnout was more than 52 percent in the polls, which also included national, municipal and local elections.
Touadera had presented himself as the stability candidate in an impoverished country that has endured a succession of civil wars, coups and authoritarian governments since gaining independence from France in 1960.
Since he was first elected in the middle of a civil war, unrest has eased, though feuds between armed groups and the government persist in some regions.
Dologuele also finished second to Touadera in the 2016 and 2021 elections, both of which were marred by suspicions of fraud.
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Source: AFP
