“
More and more voices are rising to demand a modification of the Constitution
,” Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra wrote on his Facebook page on Friday, the eve of Independence Day.
this change would allow him to run for a third presidential term.
In his words, this corresponds to “
deep aspirations of the people manifested through petitions and marches in support of constitutional reform
”.
On August 6, more than a thousand demonstrators gathered in Bangui, the Central African capital, to demand the holding of a referendum to modify the Constitution, adopted in 2016 and which limits the number of presidential terms to two.
At the beginning of July, hundreds of demonstrators had already demanded a new Constitution.
“
I listened to you.
I take note of your urgent requests which have come to me from everywhere calling for a new Constitution
”, continued Mr. Touadéra, elected in 2016 at the head of the Central African Republic and re-elected in 2020.
Rejection by the international community
The Head of State's United Hearts Movement (MCU) had tried in March, during a "
republican dialogue
" excluding the rebellion and boycotted by the bulk of the opposition, to introduce an amendment breaking the ceiling lock of two terms and thus allowing the president to run for a third in 2025. The MCU finally gave up in the face of the outcry caused in civil society and the disapproval of the international community.
Promoters of constitutional reform are urging Faustin-Archange Touadéra to have it adopted by referendum.
He himself was re-elected at the end of December 2020 with 53.16% of the vote after a controversial ballot, less than one in three voters having had the opportunity to vote due to insecurity in a country. plagued by a deadly civil war since 2013.
During the election, armed groups which then controlled two thirds of the country had launched an offensive to overthrow him, but the head of state called on Moscow for help.
Hundreds of Russian paramilitaries have landed to reinforce hundreds of others already present since 2018, and helped the army repel the rebels.