By James Tasamba
KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – The ruling party in the Central African Republic is in the lead in legislative elections conducted last month, according to provisional results released by the National Elections Authority on Thursday night.
The United Hearts Movement, the ruling party, won 50 of the 70 seats voted for in the first round conducted on Dec. 28, 2025, the results showed.
Twenty MPs on independent tickets and from opposition parties were elected in the first round.
Sixty-seven candidates are qualified for the second round, whose date is yet to be determined, according to the electoral body.
The country’s National Assembly is composed of 144 lawmakers.
The electoral body put the turnout rate at 52.43% of the over 2.3 million registered voters.
Leading political figures, including former prime ministers, Henri-Marie Dondra and Firmin Ngrebada, lost the election in the first round.
Ngrebada, an outgoing MP for Boali, has claimed there were serious irregularities in the election, a claim dismissed by the electoral body.
The final results will be validated by the country’s Constitutional Council in the coming days.
Results of the parliamentary polls were announced days after the electoral body declared Faustin-Archange Touadera the winner of the presidential election held on the same day, with 76.15% of the vote.