Citizens of the Central African Republic (CAR) are going to the polls on Sunday, December 28, to elect their president for a term of office of seven years. More than 2.39 million registered voters – including over 1.14 million women – are expected to cast their ballots, according to the United Nations.

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The incumbent, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, a mathematician and former university vice-chancellor, is a strong favourite. He is running under the ruling United Hearts Movement (MCU) party.

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Touadéra, 68, has campaigned on promises of peace, security and new infrastructural development in the country. He is hoping for a third term in office, with observers predicting that he will clinch victory outright in the first round with more than 50% of the vote.

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Touadera, who put his country on the map when he adopted Bitcoin as one of its legal tenders in 2022, is contesting the presidential election against opposition leader Anicet-Georges Dologuele, former Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra, and five other candidates.

Dondra, 59, a career banker and former finance minister, is running under his Republican Unity party (UNIR), which is not part of the opposition coalition. He served as prime minister under Touadera between 2021 and 2022 but was fired.

Dologuele, 68, the main opposition leader of the Union for Central African Renewal (URCA) party broke from the boycotting opposition coalition in order to run in the elections. The French-CAR citizen first ran for the top job back in 2015 and was the runner-up in the 2020 presidential race. His third bid faces challenges over his citizenship status.

Other notable candidates include 46-year-old Aristide Briand Reboas, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party, and a former sports minister until 2024. Dr Serge Djorie, 49, a former government spokesperson until 2024, is running under his Collective for Political Change for the new Central African Republic party. Then there is Eddy Symphorien Kparekouti, the civil engineer who helped draft the 2023 constitution. Kparekouti is independent candidate.

According to the UN, Sunday’s elections will be unprecedented in scope, combining four ballots – presidential, legislative, regional and municipal – across the country.

The country is holding local elections for the first time in 40 years. Municipal elections, in particular, have not been held in the CAR since 1988 and are a key provision of the 2019 Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation.

In recent weeks, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has mobilised extensive logistical and security support to deploy electoral materials across the country, including to remote and hard-to-reach areas.

The mission transported ballot papers, indelible ink, voter lists and other sensitive materials from Bangui to nearly 4,000 voting centres housing about 6,700 polling stations nationwide.

The vast landlocked nation has long been plagued by chronic instability. From its riverside capital, Bangui, the government has struggled to assert control over the country’s distant northern and eastern regions, where armed groups often operate with impunity.

But despite all its political troubles, multi-party politics has survived, and there is hope for a better future.

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In July, two rebel leaders announced the dissolution of their armed movements, pledging to join the country&039;s peace and reconciliation process. During a ceremony presided over by President Touadera, in Bangui, Ali Darasa Mahamat, the leader of the Union for Peace in the CAR (UPC), and Sembe Bobo, the leader of the Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R) group, laid down their arms and committed to working toward lasting peace.

This came in the wake of peace agreements signed two months earlier between the CAR government and the rebel factions in neighbouring Chad, which acted as mediator.

At the time, Touadera said the gesture by the rebel leaders had given "the best of hope" in the country. He urged all leaders and militants of armed groups to firmly adhere to the peace process in view of "participating in the development of our dear fatherland.”

Touadéra entered politics as prime minister under former president turned rebel leader François Bozizé.

In December 2020, Bozizé was accused by the CAR government of trying to sabotage the election process that month after he was not permitted to stand for election. Bozizé seized power in a 2003 coup but was ousted a decade later by the Seleka, a rebel coalition drawn largely from marginalized groups in the country’s northeast.

Touadéra was first elected president in February 2016, after winning a second round of voting in elections held under heavy international supervision. The 2016 vote came at the end of a transitional period following years of violence that began with the 2013 overthrow of Bozizé.

The country was then governed by an interim administration backed by the United Nations, with thousands of UN peacekeepers deployed to help secure the polls.

Rwanda and CAR maintain a close relationship, particularly in the area of security. Rwanda has deployed troops to CAR under MINUSCA as well as through a separate bilateral defence agreement.

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Rwanda continues to support reforms within CAR’s security sector, including training members of the Central African Armed Forces. President Touadéra has described the partnership as "fruitful,” noting that Rwandan support had contributed significantly to efforts to restore peace.