In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the presidential, legislative, provincial and municipal partial elections began on December 20, 2023 and continued on December 21, due to delays or closures of polling stations. A situation to which several electoral observation missions returned this Thursday. Details.
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From our special correspondent in Kinshasa,
THE general elections continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) beyond the date of December 20, 2023: certain polling stations, closed on Wednesday, in fact opened their doors 24 hours later, while others finished the counting operations started the day before this Thursday.
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In Kinshasa, several electoral observation missions (MOE) unveiled their preliminary report, this December 21, on this vote used to designate the president of the country, national and provincial deputies as well as municipal councilors.
The mission of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco) and the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC) prefers, at this stage, to limit itself to providing several figures. For example, the percentage (16) of polling stations (BV) which would have been installed in places – military academies/schools, places of worship, HQs of political parties or groups – not provided for by the electoral law. A Cenco-ECC mission which also notes that in nearly 65% of the cases observed, the first voter in each office voted at 6 a.m., the time scheduled for the start of operations.
The first trends revealed on December 22?
On the other hand, for the Synergy of Citizen Election Observation Missions (Symocel), another organization, more than half of the polling stations (BV) opened late (between 1 a.m. and 11 a.m. after the scheduled time), Wednesday . Symocel also ensures that, according to its estimates, 57% of offices respected the procedures for voting operations. She finally affirms that her “ observers were victims of aggression, access bans and exclusion from counting operations at polling stations “.
A vote supposed to end this Thursday. For the National Youth Council (CNJ), which claims to have deployed 45,000 observers for the occasion, also voting on Friday December 22 seems unlikely. “ Already we are beyond the lawestimated the CNJ, during a press conference. We recommended yesterday to the Céni [Commission électorale nationale indépendante, NDLR] to provide responsible care to Congolese citizens who would like to fulfill their civic duties. […] We believe that this total support for citizens, some of whom are still in front of the polling stations, will indeed be ensured by the Céni “.
A Céni which claims, for its part, to be able to give the first trends on these elections from this Friday, despite the accumulated delay. His second vice-president, Didi Manara Linga, said this in an interview on the Top Congo station: “ This will be the first time in this country that the CENI will publish the election results two days after the vote. »
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