The people of the Central African Republic (CAR) voted in the second round of parliamentary elections held on Sunday after an outbreak of violence severely disrupted polls late last year, reported Africa News.
Forty-nine of the National Assembly’s 140 seats are up for voting in Sunday’s vote after 22 members of parliament were elected outright in the first round. For the other 69 seats, Sunday served as the first round, to be followed by a second round on an as-yet unscheduled date.
According to the constitutional court of the Central African Republic, at least 71 MPs will need to be elected by May 2 in order to get the new National Assembly confirmed.
In the first round of the election held in December, only one in three of those registered were able to cast their ballots due to security fears. Just before the voting, six of the armed groups that control two-thirds of the country joined forces vowing to disrupt the election, and overthrow the government of President Faustin Archange Touadera.
Despite the threat, the presidential and legislative elections went ahead on December 27, with President Touadera got re-elected in December from a vote slammed by the opposition as fraudulent as so few people were able to cast votes.
Thousands of people have been killed since a civil war erupted in the country in 2013 when a mainly Muslim coalition called the Seleka toppled then-president Francois Bozize in a coup. Touadera’s government has accused Bozize of leading the latest coup attempt.
Last week, the Central African Republic government and the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA expressed confidence in a peaceful election on Sunday due to extra forces on the ground and the capture of rebel strongholds since their initial offensive.
President Touadera’s party is expected to retain its majority in the National Assembly, but there are fears the vote could again be disrupted by the rebels, who have withdrawn to the countryside but are still threatening to overthrow the government.
