List of heads of state of the Central African Republic

This article lists the heads of state of the Central African Republic. There have been seven heads of state of the Central African Republic and the Central African Empire since independence was obtained from France on 13 August 1960. This list includes not only those persons who were sworn into office as President of the Central African Republic but also those who served as de facto heads of state.

President of the Central African Republic
Président de la République centrafricaine
Presidential standard
Incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadéra since 30 March 2016
Residence	Renaissance Palace, Bangui
Seat	Bangui
Term length	Seven years, renewable
Constituting instrument	Constitution of the Central African Republic
Inaugural holder	David Dacko
Formation	12 December 1960; 64 years ago (1960-12-12) 21 September 1979; 45 years ago (1979-09-21) (office reestablished)
Salary	EUR €3,049 per month[1]

Jean-Bédel Bokassa served as a de facto head of state (and also reigned as emperor from 1976 to 1979), while David Dacko (who served as de facto head of state from 1979 to 1981), André Kolingba, Ange-Félix Patassé, and François Bozizé were elected into office at some point during their tenure. To date, Kolingba is the only former head of state of the Central African Republic to voluntarily step down from the office through a democratic process, following the 1993 general election.

The current president of the Central African Republic is Faustin-Archange Touadéra, since 30 March 2016.^[2]

Succession

Before the adoption of the 2023 constitution, the president of the National Assembly was the constitutional successor of the president in the event of a vacancy.^[3]

Term

Before the adoption of the 2023 constitution,^[4] there was a two-term limit for the president in the Constitution of the Central African Republic. The term limit was not met by any president.^[5] The constitution of 2023 removed term-limits and extended the presidential term from five years to seven years.

List of officeholders

Political parties

  Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa (MESAN)

  Central African Democratic Union (UDC)

  Central African Democratic Rally (RDC)

  Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MLPC)

  Rally for the Republic (RPR)

  United Hearts Movement (MCU)

Other affiliations

  Military

  Independent

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political affiliations		Notes
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
Central African Republic (1960–1976)
—		David Dacko (1930–2003) President of the Provisional Government	—	14 August 1960[6]	12 December 1960[A]	5 years, 140 days		MESAN	Dacko served as president of the government from 1 May 1959[7] until the country declared its independence on 13 August 1960.[8]
1		David Dacko (1930–2003) President	1964	12 December 1960	1 January 1966[9]
2		Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1921–1996) President	—	1 January 1966[B]	4 December 1976	10 years, 338 days		Military	Bokassa seized power from Dacko in a successful coup d'état. He changed his name to Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa after converting to Islam on 20 October 1976.[10]
								MESAN[C]
Central African Empire (1976–1979)
1		Bokassa I (1921–1996) Emperor	—	4 December 1976[D]	21 September 1979[11]	2 years, 291 days		MESAN	Bokassa spent approximately US$20 million—one third of the country's annual budget—on his coronation ceremony on 4 December 1977.[12]
Central African Republic (1979–present)
3		David Dacko (1930–2003) President	1981	21 September 1979[E]	1 September 1981[13]	1 year, 345 days		MESAN	This was Dacko's second time as president of the Central African Republic. In February 1980, Dacko established the Central African Democratic Union (UDC) as the country's only political party.[14]
								UDC
—		André Kolingba (1936–2010) Chairman of the Military Committee of National Recovery	—	1 September 1981[F]	21 September 1985[G]	12 years, 51 days		Military	Kolingba seized power from Dacko in a successful coup d'état. Ange-Félix Patassé, with the assistance of François Bozizé, launched an unsuccessful coup d'état against the Kolingba government on 3 March 1982.[15]
—		André Kolingba (1936–2010) President and head of state		21 September 1985	21 November 1986				Kolingba established the Central African Democratic Rally (RDC) as the country's only party in May 1986.[16]
								RDC
4		André Kolingba (1936–2010) President	1986[H]	21 November 1986	22 October 1993
5		Ange-Félix Patassé (1937–2011) President	1993[I] 1999	22 October 1993[17]	15 March 2003	9 years, 144 days		MLPC	Bozizé launched an unsuccessful coup d'état against the Patassé government on 28 May 2001.[18]
6		François Bozizé (born 1946) President	2005 2011	15 March 2003[J][19]	24 March 2013	10 years, 9 days		Military	Bozizé seized power from Patassé in a successful coup d'état. Shortly after, he appointed Abel Goumba as prime minister. Goumba had served as acting prime minister in 1959, before being overthrown by Dacko.[20]
								Independent
7		Michel Djotodia (born 1949) President	—	24 March 2013[K]	18 August 2013	292 days		Military	Djotodia was the leader of the Séléka rebel coalition in the ongoing civil war.
—		Michel Djotodia (born 1949) Head of State of the Transition		18 August 2013	10 January 2014[L]
—		Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet (born 1972) Acting Head of State of the Transition	—	10 January 2014	23 January 2014	13 days		RPR	Nguendet succeeded Djotodia after his resignation due to the continued conflict.
—		Catherine Samba-Panza (born 1954) Head of State of the Transition	—	23 January 2014	30 March 2016	2 years, 67 days		Independent	Samba-Panza became the first female head of state of the Central African Republic.
8		Faustin-Archange Touadéra (born 1957) President	2015–16 2020–21	30 March 2016	Incumbent	9 years, 39 days		Independent	Previously, Touadéra served as prime minister under Bozizé from 2008 until 2013.
								MCU

Footnotes

• ^A Dacko became the official President of the Central African Republic after defeating Abel Goumba in an internal power struggle. Dacko had support from the French government.
• ^B Bokassa seized power by staging a coup d'état from 31 December 1965 until 1 January 1966. Bokassa forced Dacko to officially resign from the presidency at 03:20 WAT (02:20 UTC) on 1 January.^[9]
• ^C Bokassa staged a military coup against the Dacko government on 31 December 1965 – 1 January 1966. After becoming president, Bokassa took control of MESAN and imposed one-party rule under MESAN.
• ^D Bokassa, then-president for life of the Central African Republic, instituted a new constitution at the session of the MESAN congress and declared the republic a monarchy, the Central African Empire (CAE). Bokassa became the emperor of the CAE as "Bokassa I".^[10]
• ^E By 1979, French support for Bokassa had all but eroded after the government's brutal suppression of rioting in Bangui and massacre of schoolchildren who had protested against wearing the expensive, government-required school uniforms. Dacko, who was Bokassa's personal adviser at the time, managed to leave for Paris where the French convinced him to cooperate in a coup to remove Bokassa from power and restore him to the presidency. The French successfully executed Operation Barracuda on 20–21 September 1979 and installed Dacko as president.^[21][22]
• ^F General Kolingba (who was also the armed forces chief of staff) overthrew Dacko from the presidency in a bloodless coup.^[16]
• ^G On 21 September 1985, Kolingba dissolved the Military Committee for National Recovery,^[23] and created the positions of head of state and president.^[24]
• ^H A constitution was adopted by a referendum on 21 November 1986 and Kolingba was elected to a six-year term in office.^[11][16]
• ^I The country held a multiparty presidential election on 22 August and 19 September 1993. Patassé was the candidate from the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People party and ran on the platform that he would pay the previously withheld salaries to soldiers and civil servants.^[25] Patassé defeated Dacko, Kolingba, Bozizé and Abel Goumba to win the election.^[26]
• ^J Bozizé's second coup attempt was successful; he seized power in Bangui on 15 March 2003.^[27]
• ^K Djotodia ousted Bozizé in the 2012–13 conflict; he seized power in Bangui on 24 March 2013.^[28][29]
• ^L Under pressure from other central African heads of state gathered for a crisis summit on the situation in CAR, Djotodia resigned in N'Djamena, Chad on 10 January 2014.^[30]

Timeline

Latest election

Main article: 2020–21 Central African general election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Faustin-Archange Touadéra	United Hearts Movement	318,626	53.16
	Anicet-Georges Dologuélé	Union for Central African Renewal	130,017	21.69
	Martin Ziguélé	Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People	45,206	7.54
	Désiré Kolingba	Central African Democratic Rally	22,157	3.70
	Crépin Mboli Goumba	PATRIE	19,271	3.21
	Sylvain Patassé	Central Africa New Momentum	8,760	1.46
	Augustin Agou	Renaissance for Sustainable Development	8,436	1.41
	Jean-Serge Bokassa	Kodro Ti Mo Kozo Si	7,870	1.31
	Mahamat Kamoun	Central Africa for All of Us	7,536	1.26
	Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet	Rally for the Republic	6,668	1.11
	Karim Meckassoua	Path of Hope	5,099	0.85
	Éloi Anguimaté	National Convention	5,078	0.85
	Catherine Samba-Panza	Independent	3,710	0.62
	Serge Djorie	CAPNCA	3,392	0.57
	Cyriaque Gonda	National Party for a New Central Africa	2,973	0.50
	Aristide Reboas	Christian Democratic Party	2,454	0.41
	Nicolas Tiangaye	Republican Convention for Social Progress	2,163	0.36
Total			599,416	100.00
Valid votes			599,416	91.51
Invalid/blank votes			55,638	8.49
Total votes			655,054	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,858,236	35.25
Source: Constitutional Court

See also

• Politics of the Central African Republic
• History of the Central African Republic
• Emperor of Central Africa
• List of heads of government of the Central African Republic
• Vice President of the Central African Republic
• List of colonial governors of Ubangi-Shari