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Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in the Central African Republic on March 13 , 2005 (first round) and May 8 , 2005 (second round), marking the end of the transitional process that began with the seizure of power by François Bozizé in a March 2003 Coup . Bozizé ran in the election in an attempt to win a five-year term after two years as transitional leader, and ten other candidates also ran. Former president Ange-Félix Patassé , who was overthrown by Bozizé, was excluded from running. In the concurrent parliamentary elections, the 105 seats in the new National Assembly were contested. The elections, the country's first since a victory by Patassé in the September 1999 presidential election, followed a new constitution that took effect in late December 2004 , having been approved by the people in a referendum. A run-off election between Bozizé, who won the most votes in the first round according to official results, and Martin Ziguélé , a former prime minister under Patassé, was held, and Bozizé won this second round with 64.6 % of the vote. He was inaugurated on June 11 . DATE OF THE ELECTION A specific date for the elections, previously planned for , took place on May 8 . CANDIDATES After taking power with the seizure of the capital, , however, speculation increased that he intended to run in the presidential election that would mark the end of the transition, with many of his supporters calling on him to run. Eventually, following a referendum on a new constitution on December 5 , 2004, Bozizé announced his candidacy in the presidential election as an independent candidate on December 11 , 2004 , while speaking to supporters. He cited what he considered the will of the people in his decision: After thinking thoroughly, and being deeply convinced and keeping in mind the nation's interest, I grasped the deep sense of my people's calls. As a citizen, I'll take my responsibility. I'll contest the election to achieve the task of rebuilding the country, which is dear to me and according to your wish. Ten other candidates also contested the presidential election, including one former president and three former prime ministers. of the National Unity Party (Parti de l'unité nationale), who was prime minister from 1996 to 1997. The other candidates were former defense minister Jean-Jacques Démafouth , the lawyer Henri Pouzère , who was previously a presidential candidate in 1999, then taking about 4% of the vote, Charles Massi of the Democratic Forum for Modernity (Forum démocratique pour la modernité), also a 1999 candidate, then taking a little over 1% of the vote, Olivier Gabirault of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress (l'Alliance pour la démocratie et le progrès), Auguste Boukanga of the Union for Renewal and Development (l'Union pour la Renaissance et le développement) and Pasteur Josué Binoua. EVENTS AND CONTROVERSY In late , and on April 30 , Bozizé issued the decree promulgating it. "The situation in the Central African Republic and the activities of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in the Central African Republic: Report of the Secretary-General" , United Nations Security Council, June 16, 2004; "PORTANT ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION ET FONCTIONNEMENT DE LA COMMISSION ELECTORALE MIXTE INDEPENDANTE «CEMI»" , presidential decree. On . Jean Willybiro-Sako was subsequently chosen as president of the commission, selected out of four candidates, two of whom were nominated by the prime minister and two by the president of the National Transitional Council. Earlier in the year, Alpha Oumar Konaré , the chairman of the commission of the African Union and former president of Mali , reportedly urged Bozizé not to stand for election. Bozizé gave an interview to Radio France Internationale on May 17 in which he refused to say whether or not he would run, but he confirmed that Konaré had spoken to him about it, while criticizing Konaré for what he called interference in the country's affairs, and wondering whether he had consulted the opinions of the Central African people before getting involved. He stressed that the matter would depend on the will of the people. Some of his supporters campaigned prominently for him to stand. About 5,000 people walked in Bangui on June 19 to support his candidacy; ""Sans Bozizé, pas de vote" en 2005, ont scandé les marcheurs" , AFP (Sangonet.com), June 19, 2004 . Bozizé thanked them and asked for time to reflect. An electoral census was conducted from October 16 to October 29 , 2004; it was initially planned to end on October 24 but was extended for several days. "Fin du recensement électoral en Centrafrique" , AFP, October 29, 2004 . In November 2004 , former president Ange-Félix Patassé, who presently lives in exile in Togo following his 2003 ouster by Bozizé, was nominated as the presidential candidate of his party, the Movement For The Liberation Of The Central African People (Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain, MLPC)."Patasse to run as party's candidate in Central African Republic vote", AFP, November 22, 2004. In December, Abel Goumba and Henri Pouzère submitted applications to run."Veteran vice president to contest Central African election", AFP, December 16, 2004. On December 30 , the transitional constitutional court decided that all but five candidates—Bozizé, André Kolingba, Abel Goumba, Henri Pouzère, and former minister Auguste Boukanga—would be excluded from running for various reasons. Patassé was among the seven who were barred, which the court said was due to problems with his Birth Certificate , as well as with his land title. "Présidentielle en RCA: seuls cinq candidats admis à se présenter" , AFP, December 30, 2004 . In rejecting the candidacy of Jean-Jacques Démafouth, it said that there was a conflict between the date of birth given on his birth certificate (October 3, 1950) and that given in his declaration of candidacy and criminal record (October 3, 1959). "La Rédaction/Centrafrique Presse" , TchadForum, January 8, 2005 . The other candidates who were rejected were Martin Ziguélé, Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Charles Massi, Olivier Gabirault, and Pasteur Josué Binoua. Prior to the court's decision, three of the 15 initial candidates had already withdrawn from the race, leaving only 12 candidacies to judge. , a former mayor of Bangui and an opponent of Bozizé's transitional government, announced his withdrawal on the morning of December 30 because he could not pay the required guarantee of five million CFA Franc s; he had been named as a candidate by his party, the Democratic Movement for Renewal and Development in Central Africa, in May 2004 ."Opposition presidential candidate chosen in Central Africa", AFP, May 20, 2004. Enoch Dérant-Lakoué , who was prime minister for several months in 1993 and took a little more than 1% in the 1999 election, withdrew as well. The court's decision caused controversy and was followed by demands for the annulment of the decision and the dissolution of the court. Although the chairman of the court, Marcel Malonga, reaffirmed the decision on state radio on on January 15 , which was carried on state radio, accusing them of "nothing more or less than sorcery" and "madness, bad faith, coupled with a dose of misinformation". He further said that, in contrast to them, his policy "does not aim at destroying the country, it is not based on violence, lies, betrayal, manipulation or strikes"."CAR president hits out at barred rivals", AFP, January 15, 2005. Amidst this tension and controversy, the seven excluded candidates, along with the originally accepted candidates Kolingba and Goumba, called for the that it would support the candidacy of Ziguélé, who had previously been running as an independent. "Le parti de l'ex-président centrafricain Patassé soutient Martin Ziguélé" , izf.net, January 26, 2005 . An official list of candidates, including 11 of them and excluding only Patassé, was published by the election commission on January 26 , following the agreement."Central African presidential candidate officially cleared to run", AFP. January 27, 2005. Elections were also held to fill the 105 seats of the national assembly, whose members will serve five-year terms. Initially, 261 of 970 candidates were barred from running by the electoral commission on January 10 , but on January 21 a court ruling permitted 219 of the 261 to run, bringing the number of candidates to 928. Bozizé's wife Monique was among the 709 candidates who were initially approved on January 10. The 2005 election marked the first time that the country's voters used a . "Élections présidentielle et législatives fixées au 13 mars en Centrafrique" , izf.net, February 3, 2005 . FIRST ROUND AFTERMATH Partial results (28.9 % of polling stations, or 1,198 out of 4,145 stations) from the election on March 18 put Bozizé in the lead with about 55 % of the votes, according to the election commission: 184,734 out of 334,732 votes counted were for Bozizé. This was over 140,000 votes more than his nearest rivals, Ziguélé and Kolingba, who took 12.86 % (43,058 votes) and 12.65 % (42,374 votes) of the vote respectively."Bozize leads in C.African polls", AFP, March 18, 2005. The opposition Union of Active Forces of the Nation (l'Union des forces vives de la Nation, UFVN), a grouping of Bozizé's rivals, denounced the elections on the grounds of alleged fraud and irregularities, and it called for the elections to be declared null. On the other hand, election observers endorsed the vote as free and fair."Central African opposition wants March 13 vote declared null", AFP, March 22, 2005. On March 31 , official results were announced: Bozizé came in first with just under 43 % of the votes, while Ziguélé came in second with 23.5 %. Turnout among voters was said to have been 68.27 %. Since no candidate won a majority, a second-round presidential vote was required between Bozizé and Ziguélé. "Second tour : Bozizé face à Ziguélé" , Radio France Internationale, March 31, 2005 . In the parliamentary election, contested by a total of 909 candidates, 17 of the 105 seats were won outright in the first round; the remainder were decided by the results of the second round. Convergence Kwa Na Kwa, the coalition supporting Bozizé, did not win any seats in the first round. Among those who did win seats were Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, also a presidential candidate, and Mireille Kolingba, the wife of presidential candidate André Kolingba. Three of the presidential candidates who were defeated in the first round, Abel Goumba, Charles Massi, and Henri Pouzère, ran in the parliamentary second round. "17 MPs elected in 1st round poll" , IRIN, April 4, 2005. In voting that was taking place abroad in Paris , voters destroyed election materials and results there were cancelled as a result. "Poll results out 22 May, official says" , IRIN, May 11, 2005. SECOND ROUND The run-off between Bozizé and Ziguélé, initially scheduled to take place on May 1 , was postponed to May 8 . The reason for the postponement was to avoid interference with the marking of Labour Day on May 1. Campaigning took place from April 23 to May 6 . "Run-off polls set for 8 May" , IRIN, April 14, 2005. Theoretically, as all the opposition candidates (except Auguste Boukanga) were part of the UFVN, there was, based on the mathematical results of the first round, a majority against Bozizé. However, support for Ziguélé in the UFVN was not unconditional. Josué Binoua refused to endorse either candidate, "Présidentielle: pas de consigne de vote du pasteur Binoua" , AMI, April 5, 2005 . while Ngoupandé, Massi and Goumba backed Bozizé. Kolingba, the third place finisher, did not endorse either candidate. "Synthèse: Bozizé, vainqueur des élections présidentielle et législatives en Centrafrique" , Xinhua, May 25, 2005 . Early results from CEMI on May 12 showed Bozizé with a strong lead. In Bangui, he was said to have received 103,446 votes, while Ziguélé took 42,959. He also was credited with 79.5 % of the vote in Ombella-M'Poko province (where his wife Monique also won the seat she was contesting, constituency Bimbo 2) and 93.7 % in Lobaye province."Bozize takes Central Africa's capital on early poll results", AFP, May 12, 2005. Subsequently, partial results from CEMI on May 16 showed Bozizé with slightly more than 60 % of the total vote, according to results from 1,698 of the country's 4,161 polling stations. The head of CEMI, Jean Willybiro Sako, said that CEMI had 15 days from the election to make the final results public, and that the inauguration of the winner would follow 45 days after the results were proclaimed; CEMI's mandate was also to come to an end at that time. In mid-May, there were riots in Bangui after CEMI said that the speaker of the transitional parliament (which was being replaced by the parliamentary elections), Nicolas Tiangaye, had been narrowly defeated in his constituency by a candidate of the pro-Bozizé Kwa Na Kwa. Tiangaye called for calm among his supporters "to avoid a bloodbath.""Opposition supporters riot after partial Central African vote result", AFP, May 15, 2005. On May 24 , Jean Willybiro Sako announced that Bozizé had won the presidential election with 64.6 % of the vote. Turnout in the second round was 64.63 %, slightly down from the first round. "Bozizé fait coup double aux élections " , AFP (Sangonet.com), May 25, 2005 . Ziguélé tried to have Bozizé's victory invalidated, claiming that soldiers had forced or intimidated people into voting for Bozizé, but this was rejected by the constitutional court. "New parliament meets, elects speaker" , IRIN, June 9, 2005. In the legislative elections, Kwa Na Kwa won the most seats in the new parliament, taking 42 out of 105. 34 independent candidates were elected. Ziguélé and Patassé's party, the MLPC, received only 11 seats, while Kolingba's party, the RDC, took eight. The Social Democratic Party took four seats, Goumba's party, the FPP, took two seats, the Alliance for Democracy took two seats, and the Londo association took one. The vote for one seat, in Boganangone "RAPPORT DE LA MISSION D’OBSERVATION DES ELECTIONS PRESIDENTIELLE ET LEGISLATIVES DES 13 MARS ET 8 MAI 2005 EN REPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE" , democratie.francophonie.org . in the south, was cancelled due to fraud, and another vote had to be held there. The new parliament met for the first time on June 3 . Subsequently it elected Célestin Gaombalet , the prime minister, as its speaker. He defeated Luc-Apollinaire Dondon Konamabaye of the MLPC, receiving 78 votes against 18 for Dondon. Bozizé was sworn in on June 11 by the head of the constitutional court, Marcel Malonga. Gaombalet resigned as prime minister after Bozizé's inauguration to take up his new post, and Elie Doté was appointed to replace him. "Bozize inaugurated, prime minister appointed" , IRIN, June 13, 2005. OFFICIAL RESULTS Presidential Election Legislative Election REFERENCES |
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