2011 presidential election in the Central African Republic
The 2011 presidential elections in the Central African Republic took place at the same time as the parliamentary elections on January 23, 2011 , after the date had been postponed several times. François Bozizé , President of the Central African Republic since 2005 , won almost two thirds of the votes in the first round and left his main competitor and predecessor Ange-Félix Patassé behind with 20 percent of the votes. A runoff election was therefore unnecessary. The validity of this result is controversial. On the one hand, the opposition accused of massive electoral fraud, and on the other, large parts of the country are not under government control, so that the election campaign hardly took place outside the capital Bangui . In view of these circumstances, if the official figures are correct, voter turnout was unexpectedly high at around 50 percent and exceeded the turnout in the last elections in 2005 .
The candidates
- François Bozizé : acting President. In 2003 he pushed the then president Ange-Félix Patassé out of office and was elected president in the second round of the presidential elections that took place two years later.
- Ange-Félix Patassé : President of the Central African Republic from 1993 to 2003, then (see above) pushed out of office by Bozizé. Former favorite of "Emperor" Jean-Bédel Bokassa and multiple presidential candidate of the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MPLC) party, which had not re-established him in 2005 because of alleged inconsistencies in his birth certificate (ie citizenship).
- Martin Ziguélé : Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 2001 to 2003 (i.e. until the Bozizés coup). First ran as a candidate for the MPLC in 2005 instead of Patassé and received 23% (in the 1st round) and 35% (in the runoff) of the votes.
- Emile Gros Raymond Nakombo : his party Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain was until the democratic revolution in 1991 the only authorized unity party in the country
- Jean-Jacques Démafouth : former defense minister under Ange-Felix Patassé and leader of the rebel movement Armée du Peuple pour la restauration de la democratie , which operates in the north-west of the country and participated as one of several groups in the Central African Bush War from 2003-2007.
A sixth candidate, Justin Wilite , was removed from the list shortly before the elections after cashing a bad check.
Official results
| Candidate and party | be right | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| François Bozizé - Convergence Nationale "Kwa Na Kwa" ("National Convergence 'Kwa Na Kwa'") | 607.184 | 66.08 | ||
| Ange-Félix Patassé - Independent | 184.716 | 20.10 | ||
| Martin Ziguélé - Mouvement de libération du peuple centrafricain ("Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People") | 59,370 | 6.46 | ||
| Emile Gros Raymond Nakombo - Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain ("Central African Democratic Association") | 42,591 | 4.64 | ||
| Jean-Jacques Démafouth - Armée du Peuple pour la restauration de la démocratie ("Army of the People to Restore Democracy") | 24,980 | 2.72 | ||
| Total (turnout: 54.01%) | 919.841 | 100.00 | ||
| Invalid votes | 66,189 | 6.71 | ||
| Total votes | 986.030 | |||
| Registered voters | 1,825,735 | |||
| Source: La Voix | ||||
Individual evidence
- ^ Theguardian.com, accessed October 24, 2011
- ↑ taz.de accessed on October 24, 2011
- ↑ english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/7263730.html, accessed October 24, 2011
