Presidential elections were held in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

on 15 March 1981.Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p210 They were the first national elections of any sort since 1964, the first elections since the overthrow of longtime ruler

Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jean-Bédel Bokassa (; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR) and as the emperor of its s ...

in 1979, and the first multiparty presidential elections since independence. Five candidates—incumbent president

David Dacko David Dacko (; 1927 – 21 November 2003) was a Central African politician who served as the first president of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 1 January 1966, and 3rd President from 21 September 1979 to 1 September 1981. Af ...

Ange-Félix Patassé Ange-Félix Patassé (January 25, 1937 – April 5, 2011) was a Central African politician who was President of the Central African Republic from 1993 until 2003, when he was deposed by the rebel leader François Bozizé in the 2003 coup d'ét ...

, François Pehoua,

Henri Maïdou Henri Maïdou (born 14 February 1936) is a retired Central African politician who served as Prime Minister of the Central African Empire (Central African Republic) from 14 July 1978 to 26 September 1979, and Vice President of the CAR in the ca ...

and

Abel Goumba Abel Nguéndé Goumba (; 18 September 1926 – 11 May 2009) was a Central African political figure. During the late 1950s, he headed the government in the period prior to independence from France, and following independence he was an unsucce ...

—stood in the election. The elections were won by Dacko, who had been restored to power two years earlier as part of

Operation Barracuda Operation Barracuda was a military operation by France during 1979-1981, to return to power the former President of the Central African Republic, Mr David Dacko. It followed up Operation Caban of 21 September 1979, a bloodless military operation in ...

, which overthrew

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Bokassa I (Jean-Bédel Bokassa). Dacko tried to pose as the inheritor of

Barthélemy Boganda Barthélemy Boganda (c. 1910 – 29 March 1959) was a Central African politician and independence activist. Boganda was active prior to his country's independence, during the period when the area, part of French Equatorial Africa, was administe ...

, the

national hero The title of Hero is presented by various governments in recognition of acts of self-sacrifice to the state, and great achievements in combat or labor. It is originally a Soviet-type honor, and is continued by several nations including Belarus, Ru ...

who founded the country.

Results

References

Presidential elections in the Central African Republic 1981 in the Central African Republic {{CentralAfricanRepublic-stub