Delegates from the European Union (EU) electoral observation mission will meet the Congolese authorities at the start of the week to define the practical arrangements for a reduced system. Since November 29, the EU has canceled its initial mission of around 80 observers, now opting for fewer than ten experts based exclusively in Kinshasa.
1 min
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
What could be the concrete repercussions of this format change?
The mission will now be made up of a group of experts, but which will not be deployed across the entire country. Its presence will only be maintained in Kinshasa, thus limiting its field of observation. Consequently, it will not be able to formulate an opinion on what it has not had the opportunity to observe directly.
An important aspect for the mission was to examine the procedures for semi-electronic voting and physical voting, in the event of a difference in the number of votes cast.
The mission will also not be able to verify the difficulties linked to the poor printing of voter cards which are erased and even less the corrective measures put in place by the Ceni to resolve this problem.
As a result, the mission finds itself forced into silence. Its final report will not be published for the general public and will be intended exclusively for the European Union.
If approved by Kinshasa, this new format will be composed of eight central experts including a political analyst, a legal expert, an elections expert and an electoral technology analyst.
Read alsoElections in the DRC: towards a withdrawal of observers from the European Union?