By Crispin Dembassa-Kette
BANGUI (Reuters) - Former Central African Republic prime minister Faustin-Archange Touadera has won a presidential run-off, the electoral commission announced on Saturday, in what was widely seen as a step towards reconciliation after years of violent turmoil.
Touadera won 62.71 percent of votes cast in the Feb. 14 election, according to provisional results announced by National Elections Authority (ANE) president Marie-Madeleine Nkouet.
Anicet-Georges Dologuele, also a former prime minister, won 37.29 percent, reversing the two rivals' rankings from the first round. Dologuele said he would accept the results, despite what he called "massive fraud" in the second round.
"For the sake of peace, I choose to respect the provisional results published by the ANE and to renounce an appeal to the constitutional court ... and to recognise Faustin Archange Touadera as the leader of all central Africans," he told reporters at his home shortly after the results were released.
Touadera's spokesman called for calm and asked the country's population of 5 million to accompany the new leader in his pursuit of "reconciliation and recovery".
Foreign observers praised the peaceful nature of the polls but have not yet commented on Saturday's results.
Central African Republic, one of the world's most chronically unstable countries, suffered the worst crisis in its history in early 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters toppled president Francois Bozize.
Christian militias responded to Seleka abuses by attacking the Muslim minority community. A fifth of the population have fled their homes, either internally or abroad, to escape the violence, leaving the impoverished country divided along ethnic and religious lines.
The election results must be certified by the Constitutional Court within eight days to become final.
In January, local authorities cancelled the result of a legislative election held at the same time as the first round of the presidential vote in December, citing irregularities.