The top court in the Central African Republic (CAR) has rejected the candidacy of former President Francois Bozize ahead of the country’s December 27 presidential polls, ending his chance of securing re-election. Bozize had been scheduled to run against President Archange Toudera in the election that is scheduled to hold despite widespread security concerns.
Handing down its ruling, the Constitutional Court, which also rejected three other candidates, decided that Bozize failed to satisfy the “good morality” requirement for candidates by the electoral code. Shedding more light, the court said it would not accept Bozize’s candidacy, “given that the candidate is the target of an international arrest warrant” filed by the CAR in 2014 “for murder, arbitrary arrest, sequestration, arbitrary detention, and torture.”
The court, however, validated the candidacies of Touadera and 16 others, according to the order read by the court’s president.
A former general, Bozize seized power through a coup in 2003 but was overthrown in a 2013 rebellion. His party has gone on to criticize the court’s ruling in a statement, noting that while he had been accused of these crimes, he was yet to be convicted. His camp also called on the presidential hopeful’s supporters to exercise “calm and restraint.”
Bozizé is still under sanctions by the United Nations for his role in the 2013 crisis, during which he is accused of supporting the Christian anti-Balaka militias. The fighting between the mainly Christian and Muslim militias has led to an acute humanitarian crisis with several parts of the country still under militia control.
Elected as president in 2016 after serving as Prime Minister under Bozize, Touadera has worked to restore peace in the country with a deal agreement in 2019, which unfortunately failed to bring long-lasting peace. In response, Bozize returned to CAR late last year and announced his presidential candidacy in July, saying an experienced leader needed to restore peace.
Touadera’s government has tried to arrest Bozize.
