Demonstrators demand constitutional change in CAR

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Friday in the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, to demand constitutional change.

Pro-government demonstrators want to see President Faustin Archange Touadéra run for a third term in office currently not possible under the present Constitution.

"Today I am here to support the third term of President Touadéra. In my mind, President Touadéra has proven his mandate but he is helping my country by bringing development to the Central African Republic", said Jean-Levy, a pro-power demonstrator

David Annick Kandida, coordinator of a movement close to the Republican Front added that "the constitution is not necessarily linked to the president of the Republic. If President Touadéra has the freedom to think and if he wants to run again, that is up to him, but for us, we think that this constitution must be improved". 

The president of the Republican Front, a platform of young militants close to government, claimed to have collected more than 600,000 signatures, out of a population of about 5 million inhabitants.

"Since March 28, we launched a campaign of activism in the Central African territory and we were able to collect more than 601,774 signatures that we officially handed over to the office of the National Assembly to ask that this constitution of 2016 be revised", announced Héritier Doneng, President of the Republican Front.

Faustin Archange Touadéra was re-elected at the end of December 2020 with 53.16% of the vote, but less than one in three voters were able to go to the polls due to insecurity in a country that has been in the grip of civil war since 2013.