DRC: Uncertainty over end of 2017 presidential elections

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the presidential election scheduled to take place in late 2017 to nominate a successor to Joseph Kabila is likely to be postponed. The

announcement was made on Friday 12 May by the Election Commission of the DRC, which justifies this decision by the multiple violence that took place in the center of the country recently.

According to Corneille Nangaa, a member  of the Congo's electoral commission (CENI), violence in the central province of Kasaï and other logistical constraints could compromise the integrity of the vote. Elections "in a hurry", in order to respect a date, risks weakening the credibility of the vote and leading to violence.

The opposition, for its part, maintains that the remarks of Mr. Nangaa indicate the deliberate will of the president of the CENI to postpone the presidential election until the organization of a referendum that will certainly allow Joseph Kabila to run A third term. Suspicions that the entourage of PresidPresident Kabila rejected.

On their side, some analysts believe that this second postponement is likely to trigger a new wave of violent protests across the country. In the year 2016 alone, such violence resulted in dozens of deaths.

It should be noted that  the election was originally scheduled to be held in November 2016. But it was rejected by the government which pleaded for more time in order to complete the registration on the electoral rolls. To this end, an agreement in which Joseph Kabila formally agreed to leave the government after a presidential poll by the end of 2017, was concluded and signed under the auspices of the Catholic Church in late December 2016. And the Least than it can be said, is that this agreement has pacified the demonstrations, but clashes between pro-government forces and armed militias have intensified in the center of the country.

Tags: RTBF