In the DRC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni) has announced that it has extended by 25 days an operation to identify and register voters in the western provinces of the country which was to end on January 24. The Ceni has recognized technical malfunctions. This extension has some observers fearing a shift in the electoral calendar for the elections scheduled for December 2023.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
In ground floorthe Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni) will not close this Tuesday, January 24 the operation of identification and enrollment of voters in the western provinces of the country, as was initially planned.
The Ceni has recognized cases of malfunctions in certain centers, particularly following technical problems. It announces that it has extended these operations for an additional 25 days. This makes some observers fear a shift in the electoral calendar for the polls scheduled for December this year.
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Among the organizations that believe that this extension may have an impact on compliance with the constitutional deadline, there is the Synergy of Citizen Election Observation Missions (Symocel). She believes that the real reasons for this extension have not been clearly elucidated and communicated, as have the corrective measures taken.
In addition, where the CENI claims to have identified and corrected the anomalies observed by replacing the software, for example, the Symocel maintains that the same technical problems decried from the first week of the operation are still relevant in certain centers, both Kinshasa than in other provinces. Its coordinator, Patrick Ntambwe, cites, for example, computer breakdowns and the weakness of their autonomy.
The Ceni refutes a shift in the electoral calendar
For its part, the Catholic Church is more nuanced given that the extension of this deadline will take place at the same time as the conduct of operations in operational area 2, made up of the provinces of the center and of the south-west of the country.
According to Cyril Ebotoko, of the Episcopal Justice and Peace Commission (CEJP) of the Congolese episcopate, the constitutional deadline would be very threatened in the event that the voter registration operations went beyond the period of one month in the operation area 3 which includes the eastern provinces of the country.
On the side of the CENI, we are firm: the slippage of the electoral calendar is not part of their vocabulary, once again repeated the president of the electoral center, Denis Kadima.