Polls open in Central African Republic as President Touadera seeks third term

Voters in the Central African Republic are electing a new president and federal lawmakers on Sunday, with Faustin-Archange Touadera widely tipped to remain president after a campaign in which he boasted of steadying a nation long plagued by conflict.

Some 2.4 million voters are registered to vote in national elections, which also include local council polls being held for the first time in decades.

After changing the constitution so he can seek a third term, Touadera is in pole position in a seven-strong field. The 68-year-old president concluded his campaign with a rally in a Bangui stadium, before a large and enthusiastic crowd.

While there were no major incidents during the campaign, the most credible opposition figures, Anicet-Georges Dologuele and former prime minister Henri-Marie Dondra, were prevented from flying to the provinces to hold rallies.

Walkabout campaigns

There has been a significant deployment of police, army, and Wagner Group mercenaries on Bangui streets.

Since Touadera was first elected in 2016 in the middle of a civil war, the CAR has seen unrest ease despite feuds between various armed groups and the government in some regions.

Part of the opposition called for a boycott of the poll they consider a sham. Critics accuse Touadera of clinging onto power.

Images of the incumbent have flooded the capital, with neon signs, giant portraits and T-shirts with his face seen everywhere on the streets.

While Touadera held rallies in Bangui stadium, his top two critics had to make do with neighbourhood walkabouts and events in schools or their party offices.

Touadera upbeat

Touadera has pointed to his record on improving security and the paved roads, public lighting installed on major avenues and renovated rainwater drainage canals in the capital.

But life for many people in the CAR, 71 percent of whom live below the poverty line, remains precarious, with a lack of basic services, an absence of passable roads, widespread unemployment, poor training and a steadily rising cost of living.

Despite being pushed back, rebels are still at large on main highways, as well as in the east near the borders with war-battered Sudan and South Sudan.