{"id":230892,"date":"2023-07-29T15:27:26","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T07:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=230892"},"modified":"2023-07-29T15:27:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T07:27:26","slug":"central-african-republic-gears-up-for-sunday-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=230892","title":{"rendered":"Central African Republic gears up for Sunday referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BANJUI, July 29 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Voters in the flashpoint Central African Republic will cast their ballot Sunday on a controversial plan to change the constitution, opening the door to a third term by President Faustin Archange Touadera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the poorest and most troubled countries in the world, the land-locked nation has been gripped by conflict and political turmoil for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touadera was first elected in 2016 as the country, with French and UN help, emerged from a civil war that spiralled along sectarian lines following a coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence persists today, albeit at lower levels, swathes of territory are controlled by rebel groups and Touadera himself remains in power with the support of Russian paramilitaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touadera was re-elected in 2020 after a vote stained by accusations of fraud and low turnout — less than one in three of the electorate cast its ballot, mainly because of intimidation in rebel-held areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed constitutional change would raise the presidential term from five to seven years, and scrap its two-term limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touadera’s supporters say his tenure would be reset to zero, enabling him to run again for the presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This constitution stems from the public dialogue which was organised in March 2022 — it stems from the will of the people,” said Evariste Ngamana, deputy parliamentary speaker and spokesman for the pro-Touadera majority in parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The goal is to create institutional stability and the right conditions for development.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main opposition parties and civil society groups are calling for a boycott of the poll, describing it as flawed by an incomplete electoral roll and electoral overseers who lack independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are faced with a constitutional coup d’etat — the goal of no-limit (presidential) terms is quite simply about having power for life,” said Martin Ziguele, president of the Central African People’s Liberation Movement (MLPC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 14, only around 500 people attended a protest rally, braving a ban by the authorities who described the initiative as “subversive”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1.9 million electors are eligible to take part in Sunday’s vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whether they will be able to is a question clouded, as before, by intimidation in rebel-held areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touadera has said that Russia and Rwanda, which has also increased its influence in the CAR, would “support” security for the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Wagner-linked outlet said this month that several hundred Wagner fighters had arrived in the country to carry out this task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revising the constitution and justifying this to extend two-term presidential terms has become a growing trend in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It occurred in Guinea and Ivory Coast in 2020, and emerged as a possibility this year in Senegal, only for the incumbent, Macky Sall, to announce he would step down at the end of his second spell in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month Mali — whose ruling military junta is also supported by Wagner — pushed through a new constitution followed a controversial referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It says the constitution will steer the country’s return to civilian rule next year. — NNN-AFRICANEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BANJUI, July 29 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Voters in the flashpoint Central African Republic will cast their ballot Sunday on a controversial plan to change the constitution, opening the door to a third term by President Faustin Archange Touadera. One of the poorest and most troubled countries in the world, the land-locked nation has been gripped by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230892"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=230892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230894,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230892\/revisions\/230894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=230892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=230892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=230892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}