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Martin Ziguélé (born February 12, 1957) was a Prime Minister of the Central African Republic. He was appointed on 1 April 2001 by President Ange-Félix Patassé during a coup attempt. He also left office during a coup, when the uprising led by François Bozizé successfully ousted Patassé and his government on 15 March 2003. Ziguélé was allowed to go into exile in France. Ziguélé was barred from running in the 2005 presidential election, along with six other candidates, by a court ruling on December 30, 2004. He was subsequently reinstated as a candidate by Bozizé, along with two other candidates, on January 4. Later in January, all barred candidates, with the lone exception of Patassé, were allowed to run; following this, Patassé's party, Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, backed Ziguélé for the election. Previously, he had been running as an independent. The elections were held on March 13, 2005, and Ziguélé came in second with 23.5% of the votes according to official results. He faced Bozizé in a second round of voting, and tried to distance himself from Patassé in campaigning, but was defeated and took 35.4% of the vote.