President Alassane Ouattara has won a third term in Côte d’Ivoire, where political and ethnic tensions remain high as opposition leaders dismissed the results and said they plan on setting their own new elections. The Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) in the West African nation said Ouattara won with more than…
Opposition parties in Mauritania say they reject official election results that give a win to Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, a former defense minister and close ally of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who received 52 percent of the vote in the country’s presidential contest on Saturday. The political tensions have left…
Election officials in Mauritania say the nation’s historic presidential election has gone smoothly, despite concern about the potential for fraud voiced by some opposition candidates. Mohamed Vall Ould Bellal, president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said there were no problems while promising transparency and the rule of law will…
The Constitutional Court in Democratic Republic of Congo has dismissed an appeal filed by losing presidential candidate Martin Fayulu, in a ruling late Saturday that paves the way for final confirmation of a victory for Felix Tshisekedi of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). The court’s decision was…
The African Union has called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to suspend the announcement of final results in the contested December 30 elections, following an emergency meeting at AU headquarters on Thursday. The AU and other stakeholders in Addis Ababa said there were “serious doubts” on provisional results that…
Lambert Mende, the information minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo, was quick to condemn France for a “colonialist attitude” after its foreign minister questioned results of the December 30 presidential election that give opposition politician Felix Tshisekedi the win. Mende, a ruling party loyalist and ally of outgoing President…
The Democratic Republic of Congo was still waiting early Thursday morning, as the 11:00 p.m. deadline for announcing results from the contentious December 30 presidential election came and went. It was nearly two hours later when chief Corneille Nangaa and election officials with CENI, the national electoral commission, finally entered the…
The new president of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, appealed for unity after Monday’s high court ruling confirmed his victory in the island nation’s December 19 elections. “I’m the president of all the Malagasy,” said Rajoelina, who received 56 percent of the vote. “They chose patriotism and development. … Now let’s get…
The top election official in Democratic Republic of Congo complained that foreign diplomats are interfering with the CENI electoral commission’s work, even as Sunday’s deadline passed with no results of the December 30 election made public. Corneille Nangaa told local journalists that “diplomats are trying to threaten us” but did…
Two years ago on New Year’s Eve, the Democratic Republic of Congo finally saw a breakthrough in the political impasse that pitted outgoing President Joseph Kabila against opposition leaders who demanded elections. Kabila, having reached the end of his constitutionally limited second term, agreed to a deal brokered through CENCO,…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Congolese opposition politicians are crying foul after a national electoral commission (CENI) decision announced Wednesday that will exclude three large cities and some 1.2 million voters from Sunday’s elections, on the grounds that the Ebola outbreak and community violence pose too much risk. CENI said that Beni, Butembo and Yumbi…
Andry Rajoelina is poised for the official win in Madagascar’s presidential elections, with final results in the second round runoff expected on Thursday. Rajoelina, above, has 55.6 percent of the vote while Marc Ravalomanana of the opposition Tiako I Madagasikara (TIM) party has 44.4 percent, according to numbers released by…
The head of the national electoral commission (CENI) in Democratic Republic of Congo said Thursday that long-delayed elections scheduled for Sunday are now postponed until December 30. Corneille Nangaa, the CENI president, held a press conference in Kinshasa to explain that for technical and logistic reasons, the contentious elections must…
The head of the national electoral commission (CENI) in Democratic Republic of Congo plans a press conference for Thursday amid growing concerns that long-delayed elections could be postponed yet again. Corneille Nangaa, the CENI president, said as recently as Monday that he was confident the elections planned for Sunday would…
It’s down to the wire in Madagascar as the country ended its campaigns Monday, in preparation for Wednesday’s runoff election to determine who will become president – or in this case, president again. Both candidates in the island nation’s election have served in the top office before. Marc Ravalomanana of…