In the Central African Republic, the extraordinary session of the National Assembly opened on Friday August 19 and will run until September 2. Officially devoted to the Finance Act, this session will also address “ other pending legislation “, as explained, in opening, the president of the Assembly, Simplice Mathieu Sarandji.
However, after President Touadéra’s announcement on August 12 that a constitutional referendum was to be held soon, it was indeed the convening of a Constituent Assembly, responsible for writing a new Constitution, which was on all lips.
Some would like this session to lead to the convening of this Assembly. Others are formally opposed to it, such as the Republican Bloc, a political opposition platform which announces the holding of a rally against a constitutional revision, on Saturday August 27.
” We are really waiting for this »
Joined by RFI, Héritier Doneng, spokesperson for the Republican Front, an organization close to the authorities, awaits this Constituent Assembly firmly.
” We must set up a constituent assembly, for us it is beneficial, and we really expect that, we want it to be held during the session of the National Assembly which has just opened today. We have realized that this Constitution is already obsolete. Lapsed why ? Because this Constitution no longer respects our realities. We want a Constitution which takes into account the political, economic, social, cultural and environmental aspect of the country. Segundo, we said that this Constitution is discriminatory. Discriminatory why ? Because this Constitution prohibits any Central African citizen under the age of 35 from being President of the Republic, so how are we going to say that we are asking young people to participate fully in the democratic process of the country and we are going to prohibit these young people to be candidates ? ! Therefore, all sections of the Central African population must be represented in this new Constituent Assembly “, he specifies.
Read also: Central African Republic: Touadéra proposes a constitutional referendum in the name of the “aspirations of the people”