Editing Central African Republic (section)

==== Central African Republic under Kolingba ====
Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a [[military junta]] until 1985. He introduced a new constitution in 1986 which was adopted by a nationwide referendum. Membership in his new party, the [[Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain]] (RDC), was voluntary. In 1987 and 1988, semi-free elections to parliament were held, but Kolingba's two major political opponents, [[Abel Goumba]] and [[Ange-Félix Patassé]], were not allowed to participate.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.discoverworld.com/Central-African-Republic:In-depth#Why-Visit|title=Central African Republic – Discover World|website=www.discoverworld.com|access-date=10 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210180433/https://www.discoverworld.com/Central-African-Republic:In-depth#Why-Visit|archive-date=10 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

By 1990, inspired by the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], a pro-democracy movement arose. Pressure from the United States, France, and from a group of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (France, the US, Germany, Japan, the EU, the [[World Bank]], and the [[United Nations]]) finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992 with help from the UN Office of Electoral Affairs. After using the excuse of alleged irregularities to suspend the results of the elections as a pretext for holding on to power, President Kolingba came under intense pressure from GIBAFOR to establish a "Conseil National Politique Provisoire de la République" (Provisional National Political Council, CNPPR) and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission", which included representatives from all political parties.<ref name=":0" />

When a second round of elections were finally held in 1993, again with the help of the international community coordinated by GIBAFOR, Ange-Félix Patassé won in the second round of voting with 53% of the vote while Goumba won 45.6%. Patassé's party, the ''Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain'' (MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, gained a [[Plurality voting|plurality]] (relative majority) but not an [[Majority|absolute majority]] of seats in parliament, which meant Patassé's party required coalition partners.<ref name=":0" />