A former Acting President of the Central Africa Republic (CAR), Catherine Samba-Panza, has said she will run in the December 27 Presidential elections in the country.
Samba-Panza led the country between 2014 and 2016 after a political crisis in 2012-2013 said she took the decision to run against President Faustin Archange Touadera following encouragements from many people
“In the face of increased socio-political tension and the degrading security in the country, many appealed from all sides of the political spectrum, asking me to run,” 64-year-old Samba-Panza said in a speech to supporters in the capital.
“I have proven that I wasn’t infected by the virus of power by keeping the constitutional commitment not to run in 2016.”
Samba-Panza, 64, run against Touadera, who was elected in 2016, and is expected to seek a second term in the election.
Touadera has not yet confirmed he will run.
Another politician who has confirmed interest in ruling the nation of 4.6 million people is former president Francois Bozize who was overthrown in a 2013 rebellion by a coalition of mainly Muslim rebels from the north, plunging the majority Christian nation into a violent civil war.
