Reuters TM
Elections in Central Africa
The Central African Republic’s electoral commission said on Monday that more than 14 percent of the country’s polling stations had failed to function in Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections.
The committee pointed out that the disruption of the centers’ functions was due to armed rebels who attacked the voters and prevented the election staff from performing their work.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Bangui, Teofil Momokama, an executive with the electoral commission, said that about 800 of the 5,408 polling stations across the country had not opened their doors to voters.
He added, “There were areas where the voters were brutally treated and received death threats. Election process personnel were prevented from deploying to their workplaces on the ground.”
Central Africa, rich in diamond and gold resources and home to 4.7 million people, has been striving to achieve stability due to successive waves of militant violence since 2013, killing thousands and forcing more than a million people from their homes.
Source: “Reuters”
