Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadéra has been reelected in the first round of the presidential vote on December 27 by securing more than 53% of votes in the first round, the provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday shows.
He won an “absolute majority” with 53.92% of votes, Mathias Morouba, president of the National Election Authority (ANE) told a news conference in the capital, Bangui.
However, the results must be officially validated by the Constitutional Court if there are possible appeals.
Rebel groups had tried to disrupt the vote after former President Francois Bozize was barred from running.
Morouba said about half of the country’s electorate, or around 910,000 people, had registered to vote and turnout among the registered voters was 76.3%.
Meanwhile, an investigation was opened into Bozize, accusing him of acts of destabilisation and rebellion.
He was last month accused of staging an attempted coup as a coalition of rebels marched on Bangui.
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