Central African Republic President wins second-term in office

Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera has been re-elected for another five years in power with more than 53% of votes in an election that was marred by violence, according to provisional results announced on Monday.

The electoral commission declared Touadera the winner of the December 27 election, saying he had secured enough votes in the first round to make a second round runoff unnecessary in the gold- and diamond-producing country.

 “Faustin-Archange Touadera, having received the absolute majority of the vote in the first round with 53.9%, is declared winner,” the electoral commission’s president, Mathias Morouba, told a news conference in the capital, Bangui.

He said about half of the country’s electorate, or around 910,000 people, had registered to vote and turnout among the registered voters was 76.3%.

Provisional results of a legislative election held the same day will be announced at a later date, Morouba said.

Touadera, 63, has struggled to wrest control of vast swathes of the country from armed militias since first winning power in 2016, three years after former President Francois Bozize was ousted by another rebellion.

Olajumoke Adeleke