September 18, 1999
Web posted at: 2:03 p.m. EDT (1803 GMT)

In this story: Patasse, opposition running neck-and-neck President faces nine challengers RELATED STORIES, SITES

BANGUI, Central African Republic (Reuters) -- The Central African Republic's president, Ange-Felix Patasse, seeks re- election on Sunday in a poll designed to seal national reconciliation after three army revolts triggered political and ethnic bloodshed in 1996 and 1997.

But with opposition parties denouncing irregularities, calling for a fresh postponement of the poll and threatening not to recognize a Patasse win in the first round, there was little evidence of a true spirit of reconciliation.

The election, in a volatile country best remembered for the eccentric rule of its self-styled Emperor Bokassa, brings together most of the personalities who have dominated the political scene since independence from France in 1960.

A 1998 parliamentary poll showed Patasse and the opposition running neck-and-neck. Patasse wrested control of parliament from the opposition after two independents rallied to him.

Campaigning has been largely peaceful although two Patasse supporters were killed and a dozen injured in September 10 clashes with opposition supporters. A U.N. peacekeeping force will police the election.

Electoral officials said that some polling stations were short of ballot slips but there were no reports of unrest ahead of Sunday's poll which has already been postponed twice.

"Technical arrangements are in place to allow voters to fulfill their civic duty on September 19," the Mixed Independent Election Commission (CEMI) said in a statement released on Friday, adding that lingering problems were being addressed.

Patasse, 63, faces nine challengers. They include David Dacko, the country's first president, who was toppled by Jean-Bedel Bokassa in late 1965.

Bokassa, who died in 1996, held absolute sway over the country. He proclaimed himself emperor and his 1977 coronation -- modeled on that of French Emperor Napoleon -- reputedly swallowed up a quarter of the diamond-rich nation's annual foreign earnings.

French troops restored Dacko to power in 1979 while Bokassa was in Libya. Military ruler Andre Kolingba, another of Sunday's candidates, replaced Dacko in 1981.

Kolingba, now 63, lasted until 1993 when he became one of several African military rulers ousted or voted out of power as a wind of democratic change blew through the continent following the collapse of communist rule in the Soviet Union.

Patasse won a 1993 election ahead of opposition veteran Abel Goumba, at 74 the oldest of Sunday's candidates.

The remaining candidates include another veteran, Enoch Derant-Lakoue, and a new generation of politicians. Some, like Patasse's former Prime Minister Jean-Paul Ngoupande and former minister Charles Massi are well known, others less so.

Just over half of the nation's three million people are registered to vote.

Polls open at 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 5 p.m. (1600 GMT). First results are not expected for several days. The constitutional court has 15 days to proclaim a final result.

If no one wins an outright majority in the first round, the two leading candidates will contest a run-off on October 10.

Opposition parties have agreed to rally behind their best-placed candidate if Patasse makes it to a second round.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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