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Central African Republic delays elections for three days

Thursday, 24 December 2015 7:06 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 24 December 2015 7:05 PM ]

Central African Republic voters queue outside a polling station in the capital Bangui on December 13, 2015 to vote for the constitutional referendum. (Photo by AFP)

Presidential and parliamentary elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), initially scheduled for Sunday, have been postponed for three days, government officials say.

"We need to do this with proper material in order to avoid fraud. The delay is necessary if we want to have good results," Prime Minster Mahamat Kamoun said on Thursday.

Elections in CAR have so far been postponed four times since February 2015 due to insecurity and logistical challenges.

CAR has been convulsed by turmoil since 2013, when Christian armed groups launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group that had toppled the government in March that year.

In December that year, France invaded its former colony after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution giving the African Union and France the go-ahead to send troops to the country. But violence did not end.

According to the latest UN estimates, the conflict in CAR has internally displaced 399,000 people and forced more than 460,000 to flee to neighboring countries.

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