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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Background briefing on elections
NAIROBI, 20 November 1998 (IRIN) - The Central African Republic goes to the polls this weekend in the first round of legislative elections. Sudany's election, to be followed by another on 13 December, will appoint 109 deputies who will make up the National Assembly.
Rocked in 1996 by three consecutive mutinies but now embarked on a process of national reconcilitation, the Central African Republic (CAR) remains politically and economically fragile. The Bangui accords, signed in January 1997, brought the country out of a deep political and military crisis and set out a package of measures to restore stability. But some parts of the agreements have not yet been enacted or completed. In particular, the armed forces have not been restructured, a measure which many observers regarded as vital. Sources based in CAR also underline that the country continues to experience security problems, mainly related to insecurity along the roads.
Until recently, there had been uncertainty as to the timetable of the elections this year. President Ange-Felix Patasse is reported to have suggested several times that these elections should be put back to coincide with presidential elections, as was the case in 1993. The nomination of the 53 members of the Commission electorale mixte independente (CEMI), which took place on 18 June, marked an important step forward. The CEMI then requested for elections to be put back from the planned September or October dates. This was to allow more time to identify political parties and independent candidates, as well as to verify the electoral rolls.
The CAR elections are backed by a strong committment from the international community. A local observer noted that donors had invested very heavily in the election, estimated to cost 2 billion CFA (about US $ 3.4 million). The UN's Mission des Nations Unies en Republique Centrafricaine (MINURCA) was dispatched to CAR in April 1998 to replace the African MISAB forces had been in place since the Bangui accords. MINURCA's mandate was extended to expand its role in the electoral process. The UN force is assigned the responsibilities of assuring the transport and security of observers, electoral materials and to mount a limited supervision of the elections. Civilian MINURCA teams have been deployed in most of the 69 sous-prefectures (districts) of the country.
According to MINURCA, in a fax received by IRIN, 849 candidates were registered to contest the elections by 30 October, 743 of whom belong to 29 political parties. President Patasse's party, the Mouvement de liberation du peuple centrafricain (MLPC) is fielding 100 candidates in all 17 prefectures. The MLPC party has 34 seats in the current 85-seat assembly.
Other parties include: the FPP (Front patriotique pour le progres) of opposition figure Abel Gouma, which is fielding 86 candidates; 79 candidates of former president Andre Kolingba's ruling party, RDC (Rassemblement democratique centrafricain) will stand; the PSD (Parti social democrate) of Enock Derand Lakoue has 70 candidates; the MDD (Mouvement pour la defense de la democratie) set up by the first post-independence CAR president David Dacko has 73 candidates; 81 the PUN (Parti de l'unite nationale) of Patasse's former Prime Minister Jean Paul Ngoupande has 81 candidates running; and FODEM (Forum democratique pour la liberte), a party set up by ex-minister Charles Massi is also running.
Diplomatic sources told IRIN that the election campaign has gone ahead without incident and was marked by a well-motivated electorate. Despite statements from President Patasse about problems on problems in the organization of the vote and ballot papers in particular, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative Oluyemi Adeniji said this week he was confident of a good outcome.
[ENDS]
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 16:53:42 -0300 (GMT+3) From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irininfo@ocha.unon.org> Subject: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Background briefing on elections 1998.11.20 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981120165325.11909T-100000@amahoro.ocha.unon.org>
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
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