Troubled C Africa goes to the polls

BANGUI, Central African Republic: Voting began in presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic on Sunday, in a key test for one of the world’s most troubled nations.

The polls take place after a week of turbulence, marked by accusations of an attempted coup, the brief seizure of the CAR’s fourth-largest town and the dispatch of military personnel by Russia and Rwanda to help its beleaguered government.

UN peacekeepers and local and Rwandan soldiers were patrolling the streets throughout the capital, with armoured vehicles posted outside voting places armed with machine guns, AFP journalists saw.

There was a delay of around 50 minutes before some polling stations in Bangui opened as voting materials had not been delivered on time. “It’s very important for me to be here, as a citizen. I think this vote will change our country, whoever the president will be,” teacher Hortense Reine said. Senior officials at the election authority told AFP that where polling stations had opened late, voting would continue for an additional 50 minutes.