Bozize Sets Elections For 2011

Central Africa  |  08.05.10   By PoliticsAfrica Staff

After much debate, President Francois Bozize has given the green light to presidential and parliamentary elections in the Central African Republic early next year.

“The president of the republic decrees that the electorate of the Central African Republic is called out on January 23, 2011, for presidential and parliamentary elections,” said a statement, read out on state radio.

The elections, which had been due to take place on April 25, were put off until May and then postponed indefinitely as the opposition called for delays, warning that security was not guaranteed in the strife-prone country.

In mid-June, the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) proposed a vote on October 24, but Bozize chose not to follow its advice.

Bozize’s mandate to rule expired on June 11, but after the second postponement of the polls, the presidential and parliamentary mandates were extended by constitutional law.

A postponement in the election had also been recommended by the committee of financial sponsors of the poll, consisting of the United Nations, the European Union, France, and the United States.

Under the decree, the electoral campaign will begin on January 10 and will end at midnight on January 21.

Government spokesman Fidele Gouandjika explained the reason for the decision to media:

“The head of state has said and repeated that the new date of the elections must take account of the security conditions and progress in the disarmament, demobilisation and reinsertion program for former rebels, which must reach the disarmament phase.”

Since 2008, politicians and armed movements in the Central African Republic have been engaged in a process of peace-making and reconciliation, after years of instability and insecurity.

The main rebel groups have signed up to the disarmament process, but unrest periodically erupts in the volatile north of the country.

Bozize came to power as an army general who ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse in 2003, and was then elected president for five years in 2005.

Bozize is running for a second term

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