Over 20 candidates on Sunday, January 10 declared support for Faustin Archange Touadéra.

There is intense beehive movement in the political playground in the Central African Republic as alliances begin emerging ahead of the second round of presidential election expected on January 31, 2016. The National Elections Authority (ANE) on January 7, 2016 declared the partial results of the first round of the presidential election of December 30, 2015 in which 30 candidates competed.

No candidate won absolute majority in the first round of the polls thereby necessitating the second round for the first two candidates in accordance with the electoral code.  As such,  Anicet Georges Dologuélé who came first scoring 23.78 per cent of the votes cast will face the second candidate Faustin Archange Touadéra who scored 19.42 per cent of the votes cast.

Ahead of official launch of campaign for the second round of the presidential poll, RFI reported that 20 candidates in the first round of the election during a rally in the capital, Bangui on last Sunday, declared their support for the independent candidate Fautin Archange Touadéra. Reports say the declared support gives Mr Touadéra who came second in the first round, additional 20 per cent of the votes in case the participation rate remains stable. Jean-Baptiste Koba, the spokesperson for a group of parties supporting Mr Touadéra said their

 support was due to his personalities and his past history. Talking to RFI, Jean-Baptiste Koba, reportedly said that Touadéra  is a reserved and prudent manager.  He said that in the specific social and political situation the country was going through, they needed somebody who can incarnate the aspirations of all.

While the creation of alliances ahead of the second round of the presidential election is ongoing, the Constitutional Court is still to make a final proclamation of the results. In compliance with the electoral code, candidates with complaints have to file them at the court for a ruling before the proclamation of results. This is the case with Martin Ziguélé, the candidate of the Movement for the Liberation of the People of the Central African Republic who came fourth in the election. He has vowed to file a petition at the court calling for  the manual counting of the votes and checking of the centralizing and processing chain of the electoral data.