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    Central African Republic: CAR’s Disputed Election – Stability at a Cost?

    ElanBy No Comments4 Mins Read
    Central African Republic: CAR’s Disputed Election – Stability at a Cost?

    The Central African Republic’s latest presidential election has delivered a familiar outcome.

    President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has secured a third term with a commanding margin. On paper, the result suggests continuity and stability in a country long scarred by conflict. In reality, it exposes the deep contradictions at the heart of CAR’s politics — where order is increasingly maintained by force and foreign backing, while democratic legitimacy continues to erode.

    The election was widely disputed. Opposition candidates rejected the results, citing irregularities, intimidation, and an uneven political playing field. Much of the opposition had already been weakened by the 2023 constitutional changes that removed term limits, a move seen by critics as designed to entrench Touadéra’s rule rather than strengthen institutions. Low trust in the electoral process means that, for many Central Africans, the vote did little to resolve questions of who truly governs in their name.

    Touadéra himself is a complex figure. A former academic and prime minister, he came to power in 2016 promising reconciliation after years of chaos. His record is mixed. On the positive side, his presidency has coincided with a reduction in large-scale rebel offensives and the re-establishment of state authority in parts of the country that were once entirely outside government control. For citizens exhausted by violence, this relative calm matters.


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    But that stability has come at a price. Touadéra’s government is heavily propped up by foreign militaries — most notably Russian-linked forces and Rwandan troops — alongside the UN peacekeeping mission. These forces have been decisive in keeping the government in power, but they have also raised serious concerns about sovereignty, accountability, and human rights. CAR increasingly looks less like a state rebuilding its own capacity and more like one outsourced to external security guarantors.

    For ordinary people, the political debate often feels distant from daily hardship. CAR remains one of the poorest countries in the world, despite vast natural wealth in diamonds, gold, timber, and other resources. Economic growth has been limited and uneven, with little evidence that resource revenues are translating into broad improvements in living standards. Jobs are scarce, infrastructure weak, and basic services unreliable. Stability without development risks becoming hollow.

    Geopolitically, Touadéra’s re-election reinforces CAR’s alignment with Russia and signals a continued distancing from Western partners. In a wider African context, the country has become a symbol of shifting global influence, where governments under pressure turn to non-Western allies who offer security support with fewer political conditions. Whether this ultimately benefits CAR or locks it into new forms of dependency remains an open question.