Voters in the Central African Republic (CAR) cast their ballots on Sunday in delayed legislative elections and a presidential runoff, which they hope would bring peace after the nation’s worst sectarian violence since independence in 1960.
The nation, dogged by coups, violence and misrule since winning independence from France, could take a step toward rebirth if the polls and their aftermath go smoothly.
“It is crucial that people vote today,” said Paterne, a voter in his 40s, as he queued at a polling station in the capital, Bangui. “For the first time, we have a true opportunity to turn our backs on war.”
Photo: AP
The vote apparently passed off peacefully, with security tight as UN peacekeepers and French soldiers helped to patrol areas where tensions remain high.
The two men in the close presidential race are both former Central African prime ministers, who have campaigned on promises to restore security and boost the economy in the mineral-rich, but dirt-poor, nation.
Anicet Georges Dologuele, a 58-year-old former central banker, known as “Mr Clean” for his efforts to bring transparency to murky public finances, won the first round on Dec. 30 last year, taking 23.78 percent of the vote.
He faced Faustin Archange Touadera, a former maths professor, in the runoff. Also 58 years old, Touadera is standing as an independent and surprised many people by coming second in the first round with 19.4 percent.
Touadera’s popularity stems from a measure he introduced as prime minister — paying government salaries directly into bank accounts, ending decades of pay arrears and unpaid wages.
Dologuele wished voters a happy Valentine’s Day as he cast his ballot in Bangui.
“Valentine’s is a celebration of love, and I wouldd like Central Africans to see voting today as an act of love for their country,” he said.
He spoke of the “joy of being able to vote in the second round and, in doing so, to participate in the transition and the start of a new era for the Central African Republic.”
Touadera, speaking to voters near the working-class neighborhood of Boy Rabe, pitched himself as the people’s candidate.
“I am confident of the outcome of the vote,” he told supporters, who were already addressing him as “president.”
Central Africans also voted in a re-run of the previous legislative election, also held on Dec. 30 last year, that was later annulled over numerous irregularities.
A total of 1,800 candidates are competing for 105 seats in the National Assembly.
Queues in the capital were noticeably thinner than in December, with barely half of eligible voters having cast their ballots less than two hours before polling stations closed.
Voters in some parts of Bangui and the provinces complained of being turned away because their names were not on the list, or because they were not carrying proof of identity.
The race for the presidency is expected to be close, but results are not expected for several days.
Dologuele has the backing of the candidate who came third in the first round, while Touadera has the support of 22 other candidates who ran in December.
The CAR’s most recent episode of bloodletting was sparked by the March 2013 ousting of long-serving Central African president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.
The coup sparked a series of revenge attacks involving Muslim forces and Christian vigilante groups, known as “anti-balaka” — anti-machete — militias.
Thousands were slaughtered in the spiral of atrocities that drove about one-tenth of the population of 4.8 million to flee their homes.
Both Dologuele and Touadera are Christians.
Turnout was high in December’s elections, despite huge logistical problems and grinding poverty. About 1.3 million valid ballots were cast in a nation with nearly 2 million registered voters.
The elections came after 93 percent of voters backed a constitutional referendum that cleared the way for the vote.
It also followed Pope Francis’ groundbreaking trip in November last year — his first to a war zone. His impassioned plea for peace and reconciliation has been taken up by candidates, political parties and religious leaders.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not