3 yıl önce

Some 800 polling stations shut amid violence in Central African Republic

The election commission says voters were brutalised and threatened with death in some areas during Sunday’s election.

Reuters

Electoral officials and political party agents count and tally casted ballots during the presidential and legislative elections in Bangui, Central African Republic on December 27, 2020.

More than 14 percent of polling stations in the Central African Republic had failed to operate during Sunday’s presidential and legislative election due to armed rebels who attacked voters and barred electoral staff.

Around 800 out of a total 5,408 polling stations nationwide did not open, Theophile Momokouama, an executive of the country's electoral commission, told a news conference in Bangui.

"There were localities where voters were brutalised, threatened with death. The electoral staff were forbidden to deploy on the ground," Momokouama said.

The diamond- and gold-rich nation of 4.7 million has struggled to stabilise due to a successive waves of militia violence since 2013 that have killed thousands and forced more than a million from their homes.

"As of today, we do not know the proportion of Central Africans who were able to vote," Momokouama said.

Momokouama said the commission was waiting for results from regions for collation. The commission would then forward the provisional results to the constitutional court which will publish them.

Threats from armed groups

The election campaign was marred by threats from armed rebel groups that vowed to march on the capital and disrupt the vote after several candidates, including former President Francois Bozize, were barred from running.

Security forces, helped by more than 12,000 UN peacekeepers, and reinforcement from partners Russia and Rwanda, managed to fend off attacks in the capital and some towns, but rebels were able to stop the vote in some areas of a sparsely populated country larger than France.

Security Minister Henri Wanzet-Linguissara told the news conference that some rebel groups were aided by foreign mercenaries, enabling them to take control of some towns.

In Bouar, around 435 km northwest of the capital where heavy gunfire prevented voting, terrified residents were still hiding in their homes on Monday.

"The armed groups are still near the town. Yesterday, it was very difficult for us. We couldn't vote. They ransacked polling stations. For now, the city is almost empty," a resident said by phone.

SOURCE: Reuters