Lerato Mbhiza
Voting at the DRC Congo was on Wednesday marked by massive delays nationwide, with the electoral commission still attempting to deliver materials to voting stations long after polls were meant to have opened and had to be postponed to Thursday.
The impoverished but mineral-rich central African nation held four concurrent elections on Wednesday to select president, national and regional lawmakers, and local councilors.
President Felix Tshisekedi, is running for a second term in office against a backdrop of years of economic growth but little job creation and soaring inflation.
Denis Kadima, the head of the electoral commission, declared on national television on Wednesday night that people in places where casting ballots proved impossible would vote on Thursday.
Addressing reporters on Wednesday, electoral commission chief Kadima said the problems were spread across the vast country’s 26 provinces.
Kadima, however, also estimated that 70 percent of voters had been able to cast ballots.
Presidential candidate, Nobel Peace laureate Denis Mukwege, warned about the chaos at voting stations and condemned what he called “the proliferation of serious dysfunction and irregularities … which confirm our fears of evidently planned electoral fraud.
“We fear that the results of such a chaotic vote will not reflect the will of the people”, he said.
The DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world despite its vast reserves of copper, cobalt and gold.
Around 44 million Congolese in the nation of 100 million are registered to vote, and more than 100,000 candidates are running for various positions.
Initial results are expected by December 31. The Constitutional Court is then expected to announce definitive results on January 10.
INSIDE POLITICS
