Six candidates challenge CAR’s President Touadera

By : AFP

Date: 23 December 2025 1:53pm WAT

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FILE PHOTO: Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

Six presidential candidates will face off against the Central African Republic’s incumbent leader Faustin Archange Touadera on Saturday.

The opposition has accused Touadera, first elected in 2016, of attempting to cling on as president-for-life in the unstable former French colony by running for a third term — which was made possible by a 2023 constitutional change. Here are the six candidates vying to unseat him.

– Anicet-Georges Dologuele –

The main opposition leader Dologuele, 68, founded the Union for Central African Renewal (URCA) party in 2013 and is a presidential candidate for the third time.

The politician, considered elitist by some, finished second behind Touadera twice in 2016 and 2021, after massive transfers of votes to his rival in the second round.

A business management and economics graduate, he previously served as budget minister and prime minister under former president Ange-Felix Patasse in the 1990s.

He then joined the Bank of Central African States and headed the Development Bank of the Central African States for nearly a decade. His detractors call him “Mr. 10 percent” over accusations of bribe-taking in connection with public contracts.

His decision to run in Sunday’s election took some by surprise, as he has broken with the Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution of March 2016, the opposition coalition that is boycotting this weekend’s vote, calling it an “electoral sham”.

The URCA was subsequently kicked out of the bloc for “treason”.

Dologuele has criticised the National Election Authority (ANE) for partiality and incompetence in the run-up to the vote. He has also denounced what he views as the authoritarian drift of those in power.

– Henri-Marie Dondra –

A long-time Touadera ally, Dondra is another former budget minister and prime minister, and resigned from government in 2023.

The 59-year-old founded the Reformers party before joining Touadera’s United Hearts Movement (MCU) in 2019. Following his resignation as prime minister, he created another party, Republican Unity (UNIR), which frames itself as a centrist bridge between the government and the opposition.

Holding a finance master’s degree, Dondra headed the African Guarantee and Economic Cooperation Fund (FAGACE), an organisation that mobilises financial resources for 14 African countries or for private actors operating in them.

In March 2025, one month before UNIR endorsed his presidential bid, two of Dondra’s brothers were imprisoned for attempting to poison Touadera and one of his associates.

One brother remains in pre-trial detention and has not been charged, leading to Dondra’s condemnation of the “gradual assassination of our democracy”.

– Serge Djorie –

Djorie ran for the executive office in 2021 but secured just 0.5 percent of the vote.

The leader of the Collective Turn toward a new Central African Republic (CAPNCA) party served as minister of communication and government spokesperson until January 2024.

Having studied medicine in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Djorie was a researcher in the epidemiology department at the Pasteur Institute of Bangui.

– Aristide Briand Reboas –

Reboas, the 46-year-old leader of the Christian Democratic Party (PCD), is running for president for a second time.

Following his 2021 defeat with 0.41 percent of the vote, he joined the government during Touadera’s second term as youth and sports minister.

In a January 2024 reshuffle, he was replaced by Heritier Doneng, the contentious leader of a pro-government militia. One of his programme’s 10 pledges is to provide all Centrafricans with water and electricity.

– Eddy Symphorien Kparekouti –

Kparekouti, 56, leads the Party for Unity and Reconstruction (PUR) and the Union of Democratic Opposition Forces (UFDO) platform.

A civil engineer by training, Kparekouti’s programme prioritises the fight against poverty.

– Marcelin Yalemende –

Yalemende, 49, is running as an independent.

The evangelical pastor and transport entrepreneur has no political experience and says he wants to combine public action with spirituality.

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