Central America:

Gangs are a hurdle in the battle against Zika outbreak.

BANGUI, Central African Republic — Central African Republic’s long- awaited presidential runoff vote will go forward Sunday alongside a second attempt at credible legislative elections, election authorities said as the two top candidates campaigned outside the capital Wednesday.

The nation, recovering from several years of intense communal violence between Muslims and Christians, must now choose between two former prime ministers — both Christians. The presidential runoff vote has been delayed several times already, raising concerns about whether Sunday’s polls would go forward.

Commission President Marie-Madeleine N’Kouet Hoornaert confirmed the voting will be held as scheduled.

The constitutional court annulled the results from the legislative elections held in late December, citing widespread irregularities, but the presidential results of the first round were validated.

Voting materials are being distributed throughout the impoverished country, where some roads have not been repaved since independence from France in 1960.

More than 1,500 candidates are running for 140 seats in the National Assembly.

In the initial presidential race, former Prime Minister Anicet Georges Dologuele took about 24 percent of the vote, while another ex- prime minister, Faustin Archange Touadera, got 19 percent. Campaigning runs until midnight Friday.

Central African Republic has suffered through dictatorship and coups in recent decades. The president of a decade — who had come to power through a coup — was overthrown in March 2013, to be replaced by a Muslim rebel leader who was forced to step aside less than a year later. A transitional president has been in charge for the last two years, and she is barred from running in the presidential vote.

Nearly 1 million people have been forced from their homes by the violence, some displaced within the country while others have fled to neighboring Cameroon and Chad.

In another development, Jane Holl Lute, a U. S. security expert, was appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon this week to coordinate improvements in the United Nations’ response to allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

Lute’s appointment follows reports of dozens of cases of sexual abuse by U. N. peacekeeping troops and police, including against children.