BANGUI (Reuters) -Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera will face six rivals in a presidential election on December 28, after a court rejected attempts to bar two former prime ministers from standing against him.
Touadera, who took office in 2016, had said in July that he would run for a third term, seeking to extend his rule into a second decade after scrapping term limits in 2023. The seven candidates were formally approved on Friday by the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest election court.
The candidacies of former prime ministers Henri-Marie Dondra and Anicet-Georges Dologuele had both been challenged by opponents who accused them of holding dual citizenship in France and Congo, respectively.
But the court allowed them to compete, finding that evidence had not been produced proving either was a citizen of another country.
Dologuele served as prime minister in 1999-2001 and ran against Touadera in elections in 2015 and 2020. Dondra served as prime minister under Touadera in 2021-2022.
The court’s decision had been closely monitored by the country’s international partners, who call for an inclusive election that complies with democratic standards, a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
A U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSCA, said late on Thursday that it had renewed its mandate for a year. This extension would allow Central African authorities to rely on U.N. forces to help secure the elections.
(Reporting by Pacome Pabandji; Writing by Anait MiridzhanianEditing by Peter Graff)
