Elections postponed by one week

Presidential elections scheduled for 12 September were postponed by one week to allow the distribution of ballot papers to be completed, news agencies said. President Ange-Felix Patasse made the announcement late Saturday following a recommendation by the Commission electorale mixte et Independante (CEMI). The second round of voting, if no single candidate gets over 50 percent on 19 September, was moved from 3 October to 10 October. The delay in the distribution of ballot papers to five of the country's 17 prefectures was due to bottlenecks at the printers, news agencies said. The nine opposition candidates challenging Patasse for a six-year term had last week demanded a postponement, saying "hasty organisation" had given the president an unfair advantage. The election had already been postponed once, from August 29, because of other preparation delays.