Government & politics — Central African Republic

self-descriptive name specifying the country's location on the continent; "Africa" is derived from the Roman designation of the area corresponding to present-day Tunisia "Africa terra," which meant "Land of the Afri" (the tribe resident in that area), but which eventually came to mean the entire continent

• history: several previous; latest constitution passed by a national referendum on 30 July 2023 and validated by the Constitutional Court on 21 August 2023; note - the new constitution was proposed by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, extended the presidential term from 5 to 7 years, removed term limits, and will allow President Touadéra to run again in 2025; opposition parties denounced the changes, claiming they were created to facilitate a "life precedency" for Touadé
• ra amendments: proposals require support of the government, two thirds of the National Council of Transition, and assent by the "Mediator of the Central African" crisis; passage requires at least three-fourths majority vote by the National Council membership; non-amendable constitutional provisions include those on the secular and republican form of government, fundamental rights and freedoms, amendment procedures, or changes to the authorities of various high-level executive, parliamentary, and judicial officials

• chief of state: President Faust
• in-Archange TOUADERA (since 30 March 2016) head of government: Prime Minister Felix MOLOUA (since 7 February 2022); note - Prime Mi
• nister Henri-Marie DONDRA resigned on 2 February 2022 cabinet: Council o
• f Ministers appointed by the president elections/appointments: president directly elected for 5-year term; election last held 27 December 2020 (next to be held in December 2025); constitutional referendum in July 2023 removed term limits and institutes 7-year terms; note - presidential and partial legislative elections were held on 27 December 2020; voting was disrupted in some areas, delaying the first round of legislative elections until 14 March 2021; constituencies that did vote on 27 December 2020
• held runoff elections for their legislators election results: 2020: Faustin-Archange TOUADERA reelected president in first round; percent of vote - Faustin-Archange TOUADERA (independent) 53.9%, Anicet Georges DOLOGUELE (URCA) 21%, other 25.1% 2015: Faustin-Archange TOUADERA elected president in the second round; percent of vote in first round - Anicet-Georges DOLOGUELE (URCA) 23.7%, Faustin-Archange TOUADERA (independent) 19.1%, Desire KOLINGBA (RDC) 12%, Martin ZIGUELE (MLPC) 11.4%, other 33.8%; percent of vote in second round - Faustin-Archange TOUADERA 62.7%, Anicet-Georges DOLOGUELE 37.3%

Description

unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (140 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by absolute majority vote with a second round if needed; members serve 5-year terms)

Elections

last held in December 2020 through July 2021 (next to be held 31 December 2025);

Note

• on 27 December 2020, the day of first round elections, voting in many electoral areas was disrupted by armed groups
• on 13 February 2021, President TOUADERA announced that new first round elections would be held on 27 February 2021 for those areas controlled by armed groups and the second round on 14 March 2021
• ultimately, two additional rounds were held on 23 May and 25 July 2021 in areas that continued to suffer from election security problems

Election Results

• percent of vote by party - NA
• seats by party - MCU 63, MOUNI 9, URCA 7, MLPC 7, RDC 5, KNK 3, PATRIE 3, CDE 2, RDD 2, MDD 2, PGD 2, PAD 2, CANE 2, other 11, independent 20
• composition as of January 2024 - men 124, women 16, percent of women 11.4%;

Note

• several members of other parties and independent candidates joined the MCU following the opening session of the National Assembly
• as of 21 September 2021, the MCU held 86 seats

• highest court(s): Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (consists of NA judges); Constitutional Court (consists of 9 judges, at
• least 3 of whom are women) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judges appointed by the president; Constitutional Court judge appointments - 2 by the president, 1 by the speaker of the National Assembly, 2 elected by their peers, 2 are advocates elected by their peers, and 2 are law professors elected by their peers;
• judges serve 7-year non-renewable terms subordinate courts: high courts; magistrates' courts

14 prefectures (prefectures, singular - prefecture), 2 economic prefectures* (prefectures economiques, singular - prefecture economique), and 1 commune Bamingui-Bangoran, Bangui, Basse-Kotto, Haute-Kotto, Haut-Mbomou, Kemo, Lobaye, Mambere-Kadei, Mbomou, Nana-Grebizi*, Nana-Mambere, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouaka, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, Sangha-Mbaere*, Vakaga

• Action Party for Development or PAD [Laurent GONDAB]
• African Party for Radical Transformation and Integration of States or PATRIE [Crepin MBOLI-GOUMBA]
• Alliance for Democracy and Progress or ADP Be Africa ti e Kwe (also known as Central Africa for Us All or BTK) [Honoré DOUBA]
• Central African Democratic Rally or RDC Central African Party for Integrated Development or PCDI [Timoléon MABIKIKOUA]
• Democratic Movement for the Renewal and Evolution of Central Africa or MDREC [Joseph BENDOUNGA]
• Kodro Ti Mo Kozo Si Movement or MKMKS [Jean-Serges BOKASSA]
• Movement for Democracy and Development or MDD [Louis PAPÉNIAH]
• Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People or MLPC [Martin ZIGUÉLÉ]
• National Convergence (also known as Kwa Na Kwa or KNK) [Christian GUÉNÉBEM-DEDIZOUM]
• National Movement of Independents or MOUNI [Thierry KAMACH]
• National Union for Democracy and Progress or UNDP [Michel AMINE]
• National Union of Republican Democrats or UNADER [Laurent GOMINA-PAMPALI]
• New Impetus for Central Africa or CANE [Sylvain PATASSE]
• Party for Democracy and Solidarity - Kélémba or KPDS [Aurélien Simplice ZINGAS]
• Party for Democratic Governance or PGD [Jean-Michel MANDABA]
• Path of Hope or CDE [Karim MECKASSOUA]
• Renaissance for Sustainable Development or RDD [Augustin AGOU]
• Socialist Party or PS [Martin PANOU]
• Transformation Through Action Initiative or ITA [Dominique YANDOCKA]
• Union for Central African Renewal or URCA [Anicet-Georges DOLOGUÉLÉ]
• Union for Renaissance and Development or URD [Auguste BOUKANGA]
• United Hearts Movement or MCU [Faustin-Archange TOUADÉRA]

• no citizenship by descent only: least one parent must be a citize
• yes residency requirement for naturalization: 35 years

ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, CEMAC, EITI (compliant country) (suspended), FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LCBC, MIGA, NAM, OIC (observer), OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

chief of mission

Ambassador Patricia A. MAHONEY (since 8 April 2022) embassy: Avenue David Dacko, Bangui mailing address: 2060 Bangui Place, Washington DC 20521-2060

telephone

[236] 2161-0200

FAX

[236] 2161-4494

Email address and website

• https://cf.usembassy.gov/

chief of mission

Ambassador Martial NDOUBOU (since 17 September 2018)

chancery

2704 Ontario Road NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone

[1] (202) 483-7800

FAX

[1] (202) 332-9893

Email address and website

• centrafricwashington@yahoo.com
• https://www.usrcaembassy.org/