Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadéra has been reelected in the first round of the presidential vote on December 27.
He secured more than 53% of votes in the first round, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday.
He won an “absolute majority” with 53.92% of votes, Mathias Morouba, president of the National Election Authority (ANE) told reporters.
However, the results must be officially validated by the Constitutional Court if there are possible appeals.
Rebel groups had tried to disrupt the vote after former President Francois Bozize was barred from running.
Morouba said about half of the country’s electorate, or around 910,000 people, had registered to vote and turnout among the registered voters was 76.3%.
Call to cancel the vote
On December 30, a coalition group called for the election to be cancelled because they said a third of voters were unable to cast their ballot because of insecurity.
Meanwhile, an investigation was opened into Bozize on Monday, accusing him of acts of destabilisation and rebellion. Accusations which he denied.
He was last month accused of staging an attempted coup as a coalition of rebels marched on Bangui.
