The Central African Republic has held a constitutional referendum which could allow President Faustin-Archange Touadera to run for a third term in 2025.
Touadera was elected for a five-year term in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020 for what was intended to be his final term.
The proposed new constitution would eliminate the two-term limit and increase the presidential mandate from five to seven years, effectively allowing Touadera or another candidate to continue as president indefinitely.
The president of the country’s electoral commission, Mathias Barthelemy Mourouba, said provisional results are expected within seven days, although they would begin revealing results from some polling locations on Monday.
The referendum was boycotted by opposition parties and some civil society organisations, who claimed it was planned to maintain Touadera in power indefinitely.
Touadera claimed he was “serene because the new constitution was at the request of the Central African people” after voting in central Bangui on Sunday.
Turnout was meagre at a polling station in a northern suburb of the capital Bangui early on Sunday, with around two dozen voters in the queue, according to a Reuters reporter.
The land-locked country, roughly the size of France and with a population of around 5.5 million, is rich in minerals including gold, diamond, and timber. It has witnessed waves instability, including coups and rebellions, since independence from France in 1960.
Touadera, 66, a mathematician, has struggled to quell rebel groups that have controlled pockets of the country since former President Francois Bozize was ousted by another rebellion in 2013.
In 2018, Touadera sought assistance from Russia in combating the insurgents. Since then, around 1,500 troops from Russia’s Wagner group, including instructors and private military contractors, have been deployed in the country alongside the national army.
