Long-awaited local elections will offer Central Africans opportunity to expand political space

Local elec­tions in the Cen­tral African Repub­lic (CAR), which have been pend­ing since 1988 and are slat­ed for Sep­tem­ber, will deep­en efforts to decen­tral­ize pow­er and expand polit­i­cal space, the UN envoy for the coun­try told the Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil on Tues­day, encour­ag­ing the new Gov­ern­ment to “deploy all pos­si­ble efforts” to calm the polit­i­cal climate.