Roundup: Central African Republic's polls held peacefully despite logistical challenges

Voters in the Central African Republic trooped to polling stations on Wednesday to elect their future president and members of parliament, in an election considered crucial to ending a three-year civil war.

The elections which were generally considered peaceful, saw 30 candidates contest for the presidency, while 1,790 candidates contested for the 140 parliamentary seats.

According to the National Elections Authority (ANE), 5,996 polling stations spread in the country's 16 prefectures, were opened for the 1.9 million registered voters to cast their votes.

The official duration for the voting process was ten hours. Polling stations were expected to open at 6 a.m. and close at 4 p.m.

However, by 9 p.m. (local time), voting was still going on in some polling stations, both in the capital Bangui, as well as in the interior of the country.

"The polling stations that opened late due to logistical challenges are in the process of closing their operations," Remi Sakanga Mourouba, ANE's commissioner for organization of materials and logistics told Xinhua in the evening.

Some of the challenges that were noted included shortage of ballot papers for legislative elections, lack of voting booths or even absence of voters' registers.

MILD TENSION

These logistical challenges that were blamed on the mismanagement of the Program to Support the Central African Republic Electoral Cycle (PACEC), run by the national office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), caused some mild tension among some parliamentary candidates, without degenerating into total violence.

"There's no major incident or violence to report. Things were handled peacefully," Sakanga Mourouba, who handled most of the complaints from candidates, told Xinhua.

"Practically, all districts in Bangui had problems with ballot papers for the legislative elections," Mourouba revealed, urging officials of polling stations and polling centers to "handle the situation with a lot of care."

Given the volatile security situation, officials of the electoral body urged for calm to avert mounting tension, as witnessed during the constitutional referendum on Dec. 13.

Disappointed, some legislative candidates from Bangui's 6th district stormed into Mourouba's office and demanded the suspension of the voting process.

"We demand that ANE takes its responsibilities. Stop the process and restart it correctly on another date," the group's spokesman Denis Mode Made said.

"The transition period was extended until the month of March. Why are we being pushed to hold elections now. We are always told of pressure from France, but it's the same country that brought us this calamity," another candidate, Emile Yando, added.

Due to numerous irregularities that were noted, some electoral officials hinted at the possibility of cancelling the parliamentary elections in some constituencies and organizing by-elections on a later date after the announcement of official results by the Constitutional Court.

ELECTIONS HELD UNDER TIGHT SECURITY

Wednesday's elections were held under tight security provided by Central African Republic's forces and heavily armed peacekeepers from the UN Integrated Multidimensional Mission for Stabilization of Central African Republic.

Besides the armoured vehicles and other military trucks on the ground, helicopters were flying in the capital to prevent any act of violence.

"Do not seek to create any chaos. Remain calm. But if you cause any problem, the police are here and they will arrest you and take you to prison," a UN peacekeeper warned youthful supporters of some candidates who had threatened to disrupt the voting process at Lakouanga public school in Bangui.

END OF TRANSITION PERIOD

Just like other transition leaders, Transition President Catherine Samba-Panza was not allowed to contest in the elections, in line with the 2014 transition charter.

Others whose candidatures were not validated included former presidents Francois Bozize, currently living in exile in Uganda and Michel Djotodia who is currently exiled in Benin.

Central African Republic was plunged in violence and chaos after a March 2013 coup that was led by ex-Seleka rebels, after three months confrontation with the regime of Francois Bozize.

Bozize had himself overthrown Ange-Felix Patasse ten years earlier, so far the only democratically elected president in this poor and landlocked country. Endit