DRC Sets Dec. 23 As Presidential Poll Date

A special envoy from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday briefed Angolan President Joao Lourenco on the DRC’s upcoming elections.

But there are concerns about the voting machines that the government of the DRC wants to use for citizens to decide their next leader.

Angolan Foreign Minister Manuel Augusto said it is in Angola’s interests that the elections in the neighboring country take place without any constraints.

Initially marked for Dec. 31, 2017, the DRC elections were rescheduled for Dec. 23, 2018 after the opposition demanded the departure of Joseph Kabila, whose presidential mandate expired in 2016.

Constitutionally, Kabila is barred from running for another presidential term.

The former president has said he would comply with the electoral calendar.

According to media reports, dozens were killed in recent demonstrations in capital Kinshasa to stop Kabila from running for a third term.

Meanwhile, many in the DRC are worried that the machines the Kabila government intends to use for voting will compromise the outcome.

The final list of the presidential candidates will be known on August 7.

Corneille Nangaa, president of the DRC’s independent electoral commission, said the the suspense surrounding Kabila will end.

He said when presidential candidates are officially named on Aug. 7, “then you will know he is not a candidate.”

Nangaa has insisted on the electoral commission using the controversial voting machines.

“I told Nikki Haley [US Envoy to the United Nations]: ‘no voting machines, no elections in December,’” Nangaa says.

“Who will be blamed for that?” As for her concerns that the technology is “unfamiliar” to millions of Congolese and makes results difficult to trust, he counters that she is making the trust problems worse based on “incorrect information.”

Opposition leader Moise Katumbi is the strongest candidates to unseat Kabila but there is a vicious attempt to bloc him from contesting the poll