Presidential Runoff in CAR Peaceful
BANGUI, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Voters in Central African Republic headed to the ballot on Sunday to elect their future president for the next five years during a presidential runoff poll that was generally termed as peaceful.
The voters were choosing between two former prime ministers, Anicet-Georges Dologuele who won the first round polls on 30 Dec 2015 with about 24 percent, and Faustin-Archange Touadera who came second with slightly over 19 percent.
Dologuele, 58, is an economist who served as prime minister during the regime of ex-president Ange-Felix Patasse (1999-2001) and also served as president of the Development Bank for Central African States.
His rival, Touadera, also aged 58, was a former vice-chancellor of Bangui University who served as prime minister during the regime of Francois Bozize between 2008 and 2013.
Voting in some polling stations in Bangui began after the legally prescribed time of 6:00 a.m. due to what was termed as technical challenges, but no violence was reported.
Central African Republic is trying to turn the page after three years of unprecedented violence since the March 2013 overthrow of Bozize by Michel Djotodia, leader of ex-rebel group, Seleka.
Out of a population of about 5 million, over 1.9 million have been registered on the electoral lists of the National Elections Authority (ANE).
(By Sikula)
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