Candidates from the ruling party in the Democratic Republic of Congo were elected on Saturday as governors and deputy governors in 14 of the nation’s 21 newly drawn provinces. The ruling coalition, known as the Presidential Majority, won in all but five of the new provinces, said the Independent National Electoral Commission, or CENI, in a statement e-mailed from the capital, Kinshasa. The vote in Sud Ubangui province was delayed and in Nord Ubangui province extended to a second round runoff, CENI said. The indirect ballot, in which governors and deputy governors are elected by provincial assemblies, was due to be held in October but was delayed. The vote is part of a series of about a dozen elections originally scheduled to take place between October 2015 and November 2016, culminating in a planned vote for a new president.
Congo’s opposition says that the postponement of the gubernatorial election and other votes is part of a ruling party strategy to delay elections and allow President Joseph Kabila to hold on to power.
He is yet to make his plans known, as his second term winds down. Last month a strike shut some schools and businesses in the country, in an attempt to increase pressure on Kabila to leave when his mandate expires at the end of this year.
Students and workers were called to participate by groups including La Dynamique, a coalition known as the G7 and the Union for Democracy and Social Progress. Most of Congo’s opposition parties backed the action, known as “villes-mortes,” or dead cities, including the UDPS, the largest group opposed to Kabila’s rule. There were no reported major incidents of violence in that strike, with a presidential vote set for November.
Full Article: Kabila party sweeps DR Congo vote; a sign of things to come? | MG Africa.
