Central African Republic opposition says to boycott elections

Bangui – The opposition in the Central African Republic told AFP on Wednesday that it would boycott elections in December in which President Faustin-Archange Touadera is running for a third term.

Leaders of the opposition forum, the Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution (BRDC), have regularly criticised the electoral process.

They already opposed the possibility of Touadera running for another term during a referendum on a new constitution adopted in 2023.

Presidential, parliamentary, regional and local elections are all due to be held on December 28.

Touadera officially submitted his candidacy last week ahead of an October 11 deadline.

“The BRDC will not reverse its decision to boycott the December elections. We will not participate,” its coordinator Crespin Mboli Goumba said, after several calls for political dialogue with Touadera.

The president initially appeared open to talks earlier in the year but then took a tougher stance during his party’s congress in July.

An initial meeting took place in early September, but no dates have been proposed by the government since for talks to continue.

The Central African Republic has seen a succession of conflicts since independence from France in 1960, and despite a gradual decrease in the intensity of violence, the security situation remains volatile, especially on main roads and in the east of the country bordering Sudan and South Sudan.