World Central African Republic President Touadera wins re-election

BANGUI (Reuters) - President Faustin-Archange Touadera has won Central African Republic's Dec. 27 presidential election by securing more than 53% of votes in the first round, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday.

© Reuters/STRINGER FILE PHOTO: Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera addresses the media outside a polling station, after casting his ballots during the Presidential and legislative elections at a polling station in Lycee Boganda, Bangui

"Faustin-Archange Touadera, having received the absolute majority of the vote in the first round with 53.9%, is declared winner," Mathias Morouba, president of the electoral commission, told a news conference in the capital, Bangui.

Troubled C.Africa goes to the polls

Voting was poised to start in presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic on Sunday, in a key test for one of the world's most troubled nations. The poll takes place after a week of turbulence, marked by accusations of an attempted coup, the brief seizure of the CAR's fourth-largest town and the dispatch of military personnel by Russia and Rwanda to help its beleaguered government. The frontrunner for the presidency is Faustin Archange Touadera, who was elected in 2016. Thousands of people have died since a civil war erupted in 2013 and more than a quarter of the population of 4.9 million have fled their homes.

General elections were held in the Central African Republic on 27 December 2020 to elect the President and National Assembly. If no presidential candidate receives more than 50% of the vote

Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin Archange Touadera is on track to win last weekend's elections , his party said on Thursday, a day after the opposition called for the vote to be annulled.

The election was marred by a coordinated offensive by rebel groups who tried to disrupt the vote after former President Francois Bozize's candidacy was rejected by the country's highest court.

Attacks and the destruction of voting materials, including on election day, prevented voting in several towns.

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%.

(Reporting by Antoine Rolland; Writing by Bate Felix, Editing by Franklin Paul and Timothy Heritage)