CAR Elects New President After More Than Two Years of Sectarian Fighting

On Sunday, the newly elected president of the Central African Republic (CAR) vowed to unite the country while thanking his opponent for conceding defeat in the runoff vote.

Faustin Archange Touadera, a former prime minister, was declared the winner of the 14 February runoff on Saturday night, having garnered 62.71 percent of the vote. While his rival, Anicet Georges Dologuele, who won 37.29 percent of the vote, expressed concern about irregularities, he did promptly acknowledge his defeat.

While many in CAR are hoping that the vote will strengthen the country’s tentative peace, after more than two years of sectarian fighting that has left thousands dead and force nearly 500,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries, Touadera does inherit the enormous task of trying to restore order in a country where heavily armed rebel groups continue to control large swathes of territory.

In his first remarks since the provisional results were announced, Touadera stated Sunday that he hoped to make the CAR “united, cohesive and prosperous” while creating jobs and reducing poverty. He further stated that “Central Africans from all regions and religions, we are going to transform our country into a vast worksite offering job opportunities to the youth, creating wealth that can be evenly distributed.” The constitutional court now has a week in order to validate the results.