Martin Ziguélé

Martin Ziguélé in September 2002

Martin Ziguélé (born February 12, 1957 in Paoua ) was Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 2001 to 2003 .

Political career

Ziguélé had worked in various functions in the civil service since 1978. In July 2000 he became director of the Banque des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale for the Central African Republic. The President Ange-Félix Patassé , who has ruled since 1993 and was born in the same town as he, appointed him Prime Minister on April 1, 2001. In May the government was confronted with an attempted coup , which it was able to repel with the support of Libyan troops. Ziguélé tried to fight corruption and rehabilitate the economy. With the fall of the currently traveling abroad Patassé in a coup led by the former army chief François Bozizé also Ziguélé ended tenure on March 15, 2003. He fled first with some of his ministers in the French embassy and was allowed in early July to 2003 to France in exile travel.

Presidential candidate

On December 30, 2004, a court banned him and six other politicians from running in the presidential elections scheduled for 2005. President Bozizé allowed him and two other people to run for office on January 4, 2005 after mediation efforts by the President of Gabon , Omar Bongo . During the month, with the exception of ex-President Patassé, all candidates who had previously been rejected were admitted. Its party Mouvement pour la Liberation du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) now decided to support Ziguélé.

In the elections he reached 23.5% of the vote in the first ballot on March 13, 2005 and was defeated by Bozizé in the second ballot on May 8, 2005 with 35.4%. Ziguélé accepted the result of the election. The party won 11 of the 105 seats in the parliamentary elections.

Web links

• The BBC about his appointment, April 2, 2001 (English)
• Afrique express , Cabinet List , April 5, 2001 (French)
• The BBC about the coup, March 18, 2003 (English)
• Election results in African Elections Database (English)