Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadéra has been reelected in the first round of the presidential vote on December 27 by securing more than 53% of votes in the first round, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday.

He won an “absolute majority” with 53.92% of votes, Mathias Morouba, president of the National Election Authority (ANE) told a news conference in the capital, Bangui.

However, the results must be officially validated by the Constitutional Court if there are possible appeals.

Rebel groups had tried to disrupt the vote after former President Francois Bozize was barred from running.

Morouba 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%.

Call to cancel the vote

On December 30, a coalition group called for the election to be cancelled because they said a third of voters were unable to cast their ballot because of insecurity.

The Democratic Opposition Coalition (COD-2020), said the presidential and legislative elections “were not fair and inclusive and are in no way the expression of the people’s will”.

The group condemned an “electoral farce”, claiming widespread ballot stuffing and a lack of observers in some areas.

Insecurity halted voting in 2,115 polling stations, preventing over 621,000 voters, or about a third of the electorate, COD-2020 said.

Rebellion acusations

Meanwhile, an investigation was opened into Bozize on Monday, accusing him of acts of destabilisation and rebellion.

He was last month accused of staging an attempted coup as a coalition of rebels marched on Bangui.

He denies the allegations.

Source: Africa News