Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election, slated for late this year to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, could be delayed because of persistent militia violence in central Congo, the election commission president said on Friday. The elections were originally supposed to have been held by November 2016 but were postponed when the government said it needed more time to register voters. Many analysts say further delays could rekindle violent anti-Kabila protests that resulted in dozens of deaths last year. Under a deal struck in December, a presidential election to replace Kabila, in power since 2001, must take place by the end of this year. Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate on Dec. 19 to avoid a power vacuum in the absence of the vote.
In an interview in the capital Kinshasa, the president of Congo’s electoral commission (CENI), Corneille Nangaa, said the violence in the central Kasai region and other logistical constraints risked undermining the integrity of the vote.
“If we organize the election hastiliy without preparing what is necessary because we must stick to the date, we risk having non-credible elections and that will probably lead to violence,” he said.
Kabila’s opponents say he intends to repeatedly delay elections until he can organize a referendum to let himself stand for a third term, as his counterparts in neighboring Congo Republic and Rwanda have done. Kabila denies that charge.
Full Article: Congo election risks delay due to militia violence: commission president | Reuters.
