Court weighs bid to disqualify CAR president Touadéra from election

By Rédaction Africanews with AP

A constitutional court in the Central African Republic began examining on Wednesday a request to disqualify the head of state from the presidential election scheduled for next December.

The petition, filed by the Observatory for Democratic Governance , a civil society organization, argues that President Faustin Archange Touadéra should be disqualified on the grounds that he does not meet the criteria required to run for president.

Élysée Nguimalé, president of the group, disputes the origin of the president’s name, claiming that it would indicate a lineage impossible to trace — a requirement stipulated by the country’s Constitution.

“The name Touadéra, in his native language, means a child abandoned by his maternal uncles ,” Nguimalé stated in his petition. He clarified that this name, according to Article 65 of the Family Code, signifies that the father is unknown and that, “since his father is unknown, his origin is ambiguous . ”

It was not immediately clear whether the court would accept this argument or when a verdict would be reached.

The Minister of Territorial Administration, Bruno Yapandé, rejected Nguimalé’s request, describing it as a tool intended to “sow confusion among the population” .

The final list of candidates for the election has not yet been published. The president is seeking a third term, which would extend his rule into a second decade—a possibility made possible after the removal of term limits in 2023.

This affair comes as the government refuses to issue a passport to opposition leader Anicet Georges Dologuélé , potentially rendering him stateless . The December 28 election will take place against a backdrop of a persistent security crisis, while the president seeks security support from Russia.