Political parties have until May 31 to declare their candidates for the next legislative and local elections in July. After this date, the DGAE, the General Directorate of Electoral Affairs closes the registration of candidacies. But in the ranks of the opposition, the parties are divided on whether or not to participate. The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) of former President Pascal Lissouba has just invested its candidates, while the Rally for Democracy and Development (RDD) called on Wednesday for a boycott of these elections.
With our correspondent in Brazzaville, Loicia Martial
It is clear that the opposition engages in scattered ranks in these legislative elections. Jean-Jacques Serge Yhomby Opango, vice-president of the RDD did not go through four paths to justify the non-participation of his political formation.
“ The national secretariat decided not to participate for several reasons. First of all, the fact that the administration distorted the revision of the electoral lists a little. To this must be added the high cost of guarantees. We did everything at the consultation of Owando [en mars dernier, Ndlr] for this to be diminished, but unfortunately they have maintained these astronomical sums because they (the power) know that they have what it takes “, he explained.
The leader of the RDD judges “ high » the deposit of 1.5 million CFA francs for legislative candidates and 500,000 CFA francs for candidates in local elections.
However, this guarantee does not seem to be a problem for the UPADS, the first opposition formation which says it is ready for these deadlines. “ The UPADS has invested 45 legislative candidates in nine of the twelve Departments in the country. As for the local elections, our party invested 69 lists of candidates throughout the national territory.l”, detailed his spokesperson Sidoine Romaric Moukoukou.
Other opposition political parties had already announced their boycott a few weeks ago. But with less than a week to go until nominations close, it’s unclear whether they’ll change their minds. The date of the next elections is set for July 10.