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The announcement of election results in the Central African Republic has been suspended due to a strike by staff at the National Election Authority (ANE).
IT specialists at the agency’s data processing centre are refusing to release the outcomes of the April 26 second-round votes for municipal, regional, and parliamentary seats until they receive two months of unpaid wages.
While salary delays are common in the nation, employees noted that the current backlog has reached an unprecedented level of severity.
The delay leaves candidates in nearly 70 constituencies waiting for official tallies, including prominent opposition figure Anicet-Georges Dologuele.
These elections were intended to further stabilise the country’s political landscape following the civil war of the 2010s.
According to the 2023 constitution, these lawmakers will serve seven-year terms in a 144-seat National Assembly, where the ruling United Hearts Movement already secured 50 seats during the initial December voting round.
In a separate development, Dologuele was reportedly blocked from leaving the country on Tuesday morning.
His lawyer stated that police at the Bangui airport confiscated the former prime minister’s diplomatic passport as he attempted to board a flight to an African Union meeting in Ethiopia.
Although he was told he is under a travel ban, his legal team claims no formal court order was presented for the restriction.
Dologuele has been a vocal critic of the government, previously challenging President Faustin-Archange Touadera’s re-election on claims of fraud.
