Bangui – Authorities in the Central African Republic said on Thursday they were delaying the country’s first municipal elections in 34 years, citing a lack of funds.
Stricken by poverty and civil war, the country had scheduled the polls for September 11.
But the president of the National Elections Authority (ANE) Mathias Barthelemy Morouba told AFP: “We have got behind in organising the elections and they will not be able to take place” on the planned date.
ALSO READ | Fear of hidden mines hangs over conflict-hit Central African Republic
In a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, he had said that the authorities did not have the $15 million needed to hold the elections.
The ANE had said the cost would be borne mainly by international donors, including the European Union.
The CAR spiralled into sectarian bloodshed after its then president, Francois Bozize, was overthrown in 2013.
Former colonial power France’s military intervened and UN peacekeepers were later deployed.
After a transition period, former prime minister Faustin Archange Touadera was voted in as president in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.
He has wielded only partial authority over a country where powerful armed groups still hold sway.
ALSO READ | Central African Republic mine blast injures Bangladeshi peacekeepers
The army has been fighting off the rebels with Russian backing.
The polls were to have been the first town-level elections since 1988.
In the absence of elected local representatives, the government has been appointing officials as de facto mayors.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Source: AFP
Picture: Pexels
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
