ZCZC
BFF-60
DRCONGO-VOTE-LEAD
Strike call, protests in DR Congo after new election delay
BENI, DR Congo, Dec 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A DR Congo opposition bloc called
Thursday for a nationwide stoppage and police clashed with demonstrators in
two eastern cities after upcoming elections were placed on hold in their
region.
Lamuka, a coalition of parties supporting opposition candidate Martin
Fayulu, called for cities to be brought to a standstill on Friday, two days
before polling day.
On Wednesday, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national election panel
announced the thrice-delayed vote would be postponed in several troubled
areas until March.
But it said the vote will continue to take place in the rest of the country
as scheduled on December 30, and the next president will be sworn in on
January 18.
Sunday’s election will be the DRC’s first presidential ballot in seven
years. Legislative and municipal elections are being held at the same time.
In the province of North Kivu, the region most affected by the delay,
several hundred demonstrators gathered on Thursday in the administrative
district of the city of Beni.
Gunshots were heard over a roughly hour-long period, apparently fired by
police to disperse protestors.
In Goma, the provincial capital, demonstrators set up barricades in the
districts of Majengo and Katimbo and at the entrance to the university.
Police fired teargas and made at least half a dozen arrests, said an AFP
reporter at the scene.
The vote should have been held in 2016 when President Joseph Kabila, in
power since 2001, reached a two-term limit set under the constitution.
But he remained in office, invoking a caretaker clause under the
constitution. – Opposition anger –
The election postponement applies to the cities of Beni and Butembo in
North Kivu, as well as to the territory of Yumbi in the southwestern province
of Mai-Ndombe.
Around three percent of some 40 million registered voters will be affected
by the delay.
But opposition parties described the delay as a ploy to stifle the vote in
a stronghold of support.
At a press conference, Lamuka called for cities around the DRC to be
brought to a standstill on Friday but said it would still contest the poll.
The announcement by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI)
blamed militia violence and an outbreak of Ebola in North Kivu, and inter-
communal clashes in Yumbi.
– Presidential challenge –
Three men are heading a field of 21 candidates in Sunday’s presidential
race.
They are Kabila’s hand-picked successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, a
hardline former interior minister; Fayulu, a little-known legislator and
former oil executive; and Felix Tshisekedi, head of the veteran UDPS
opposition.
The elections were twice postponed until a new date was set for December 23
— and were then delayed by another week. CENI blamed a warehouse fire that
destroyed election equipment.
A vast, mineral-rich country that straddles central Africa, the DRC has a
reputation for political turmoil, corruption and poverty.
It has not had a peaceful transfer of power since gaining independence from
Belgium in 1960.
In 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 it became the theatre of two wars that left
millions of dead and homeless and sucked in countries from around central and
southern Africa.
The UN and western powers have repeatedly urged the DRC to have peaceful,
transparent and free elections — a call echoed on Wednesday by the
presidents of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and the neighbouring Republic
of Congo.
BSS/AFP/RY/1921 hrs