The Central African Republic began voting in the second round of a legislative election on Sunday as it battles back against a rebel insurgency the government has called an attempted coup.
It will be the first time many will be able to vote after only one in three of those registered were able to cast their ballots in the first round in December due to the security fears.
A little over a week before that vote, six of the armed groups that control two thirds of the country joined forces vowing to disrupt the election, march on the capital and overthrow the government of President Faustin Archange Touadera.
But the presidential and legislative elections went ahead on December 27, with President Faustin Archange Touadera got relected in december from a vote slammed by the opposition as fraudulent as so few were able to cast a ballot.
The rebel offensive went on to seize a series of northern and western towns and even reached the outskirts of the capital Bangui in January.
Touadera’s party is expected to easily retain its majority in the National Assembly in Sunday’s election, but there are fears the vote could again be disrupted by the rebels, who have withdrawn to the countryside but are still threatening to overthrow the government.
More than 30,000 people have fled the country due to the violence surrounding the latest elections, the United Nations says, while tens of thousands more have been internally displaced.
The UN Security Council on Friday approved a resolution allowing for almost 3,000 more peacekeepers to deploy to the country, bringing its total to 14,400 soldiers and 3,020 police.
