Politics

Presidential candidates denounce ‘sham’ election and announce protests in DRC

Kinshasa, Dec 23 (EFE). – Opposition presidential candidates on Saturday denounced the December 20 general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a “sham” and announced a protest for December 27 in the country’s capital, Kinshasa.

Opposition leader Martin Fayulu posted the anouncement in a letter, addressed to Kinshasa Governor Gentiny Ngobila, on his X account, also signed by four other opposition candidates: Dénis Mukwege (2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner), Théodore Ngoy, Jean-Claude Baende, and Nkema Liloo Bokonzi.

“The above-mentioned irregularities sufficiently prove that the election of December 20, 2023 was a sham, organized in violation of the fundamental right of the Congolese people,” the communication reads.

The letter was released as the CENI began releasing the first provisional results of the chaotic election on Friday night, which correspond to the diaspora vote and give outgoing President Félix Tshisekedi a lead in the count, although the number of counted ballots is still very small.

The CENI hopes to begin publishing the national results on Saturday, where voting took place on Wednesday.

Some 44 million people – out of the country’s population of more than one hundred million – were called upon to exercise their democratic right to vote in presidential, legislative, provincial and local elections at 75,000 polling stations.

However, logistical challenges delayed or prevented the process, leading to extended voting on Thursday and even Friday in some areas, which some opposition candidates and independent observers said compromised the credibility of the vote.

The delays were largely due to the last-minute arrival of election materials to schools in the country, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest with over 100 million people and significant mineral wealth, mainly cobalt and copper, but poor infrastructure.

On Dec. 13, the DRC requested urgent assistance from the United Nations to distribute election materials.

Nineteen presidential candidates ran for office in the shadow of the conflict between dozens of militias and the army in the east of the country, and amid a new escalation of fighting by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels in the eastern province of North Kivu.

Earlier in December, the head of MONUSCO (the UN peacekeeping mission in the country), Special Representative Bintou Keita, warned the Security Council that tensions between Congo and Rwanda had escalated over alleged support by Rwandan soldiers to the M23 rebels and of the risk of a military confrontation that could draw in neighboring Burundi had increased.

According to the electoral calendar, the results of the presidential election should be announced on December 31, but could be released earlier if the counting is completed.

At least 19 people died in pre-election violence, the Carter Center of the United States, which sent an observer mission, said on Friday.

The mission concluded that “the election was competitive and citizen participation demonstrated a strong commitment to democracy,” but “there was a lack of confidence in the process, in part due to past elections, as well as gaps in transparency,” especially in voter registration.

The Carter Center acknowledged that the CENI made “significant efforts” to overcome logistical and security challenges and to deploy the necessary materials and personnel to polling stations.

However, it added that many polling stations “opened late or did not open at all, leading the CENI to extend voting into a second day”.

In a preliminary assessment, the African Union Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) said that “the elections took place in a relatively calm environment with significant logistical challenges.” EFE

py-pa/mcd

Related Articles

Back to top button