Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court has ruled that former President François Bozizé cannot run for election in the vote scheduled for 27 December.
According to the AFP news agency, the court barred him as he is facing allegations of murder and torture and has had UN sanctions slapped on him.
He was president for 10 years until 2013 when his overthrow precipitated years of violent chaos, and after six years in exile, he returned to the country last year.
His ten-year reign had plunged the majority Christian nation into a violent civil war and an acute and continuing humanitarian crisis.
And in July, he declared, to a large crowd of supporters at a congress of his party, Kwa na Kwa (Work, Nothing But Work), in the capital Bangui, he was running for president.
He claimed his country needed his experience, saying “the country needs a man of experience, peace, and conviction.”
Mr. Bozizé was seen as the main electoral rival to current President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
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