Home   >   News   >   Watch   >   RCA: President’s Term Could be Extended

RCA: President’s Term Could be Extended

By on May 5, 2010
President Francois Bozizé agreed to delay the May 16 vote after meeting with opposition leaders who say the country must first update its voter lists and disarm rebel groups.

That will now likely keep President Bozizé in office beyond the expiration of his constitutional mandate June 11th. The president said he will work with the national assembly to, in his words, “suggest a way we can avoid anarchy in the country.”
From their side,  The ten-party Collective of Forces for Change coalition say that a free and fair vote is not possible while violence continues in the north between government troops and rebels opposed to the Bozizé government and in the East between the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and government troops supported by Ugandan soldiers.
On top of that, the U.N. says Lord Resistance Army (LRA) attacks on civilians have displaced more than 20,000 people inside the Central African Republic, adding to both electoral insecurity and the likelihood that those people will not be able to vote.
Nonetheless, the Economic Community of Central African States is calling on the Bozizé government to continue its dialogue with political opponents to arrive at an acceptable approach for organising elections that will allow both voters and candidates to freely exercise their democratic rights.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.