AA / Yaoundé / Peter Kum
“More and more voices are rising to demand a modification of the Constitution,” wrote the Central African president on his Facebook page on August 12, the eve of Central African Independence Day.
He spoke in particular of the “deep aspirations of the people manifested through petitions and marches in support of constitutional reform” in his country.
” I listened to you. I take note of your urgent requests which have come to me from everywhere calling for a new Constitution”, continued Touadéra, elected in 2016 at the head of the Central African Republic and re-elected in December 2020.
In his message to the nation on Friday, on the occasion of the celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the independence of the CAR on August 13, Touadèra announced what always seemed to be hidden. “I would like to reaffirm my will to respect the Constitution and the will of the sovereign people. As I had to reaffirm in certain circumstances, I will do nothing without the will of the people who hold national sovereignty”.
“Our Constitution states in a peremptory manner that sovereignty belongs to the people who exercise it either by referendum or through their representatives! It will be up to the Government to notify and respond to the request of the National Assembly, I mean, at your request, ”he added.
On August 6, more than a thousand demonstrators gathered in Bangui, the Central African capital, to demand the holding of a referendum to modify the Constitution, adopted in 2016 and which limits the number of presidential terms to two.
At the beginning of July, hundreds of demonstrators had already demanded a new Constitution.
The ruling party, the United Hearts Movement (MCU) of Touadéra had tried in March, during a “republican dialogue” excluding the rebellion and boycotted by the bulk of the opposition, to introduce an amendment breaking the lock of the ceiling of two terms and thus allowing the president to run for a third in 2025.
Faustin Archange Touadéra came to power in 2016, at the head of a country torn between rebellions and community conflicts.
He also served as Prime Minister between 2008 and 2013.
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