Central African Republic to go to polls in January

Francois Bozize came to power in a military coup in 2003

Presidential and parliamentary elections will take place in the Central African Republic next January 23, President Francois Bozize decreed on Friday.

"The president of the republic ... decrees that the electorate of the Central African Republic is called out on January 23, 2011, for presidential and parliamentary elections," said the decree, read out on state radio.

The elections, which had been due to take place last April 25, were put off until May and then postponed indefinitely as the opposition called for delays, warning that security was not guaranteed in the strife-prone country.

In mid-June, the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) proposed a vote on October 24, but Bozize chose not to follow its advice.

His own mandate expired on June 11, but after the second postponement of the polls, the presidential and parliamentary mandates were extended by a constitutional law.

A postponement in the election had also been recommended by the committee of financial sponsors of the poll, consisting of the United Nations, the European Union, France and the United States.

Under the decree, the electoral campaign begins on January 10 and will end at midnight on January 21.

The date of October 24 had been proposed unanimously by the 30 members of the CEI in June, according to commission spokesman Rigobert Vondo, who argued that "all the organisational, security and budget constraints will be lifted" by that date.

But government spokesman Fidele Gouandjika responded: "The head of state has said and repeated that the new date of the elections must take account of the security conditions and progress in the disarmament, demobilisation and reinsertion programme for former rebels, which must reach the disarmament phase."

Since 2008, politicians and armed movements in the Central African Republic have been engaged in a process of peace-making and reconciliation, after years of instability and insecurity.

The main rebel groups have signed up to the disarmament process, but unrest periodically erupts in the volatile north of the country.

Bozize came to power as an army general who ousted president Ange-Felix Patasse in 2003, and was then elected president for five years in 2005. He is running for a second term.

Central African Republic to go to polls in January

Francois Bozize came to power in a military coup in 2003