Voter registration has kicked off in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the weekend as the country prepares for the December 2023 general election.
President Felix Tshisekedi is expected to seek re-election after a first term marked by economic hardship and a resurge of rebel activity in the east.
Almost 50 million people across the vast Central African nation’s 26 provinces are expected to register to vote over the next three months. registration opened in the first 10 provinces on Saturday morning to long lines and undersupplied stations.
However a medical student Mike Tshamala said that there were no machines and the process should have been postponed instead of setting a date and then doing nothing when people arrive while waiting with a dozen others at a registration point in central Kinshasa.
The electoral commission rolled out a new mobile phone pre-registration system to speed up the process and prevent the long queues that formed during past polls. Iris scans have also been added to limit fraud.
But most registration stations in the capital Kinshasa failed to open as scheduled due to a lack of staff and material. Citizens in other provinces made similar observations.
An election observer said only 6,900 out of more than 11,000 kits needed for the first phase of registration had arrived at the start of last week.
Tshisekedi, 59, also registered on Saturday in the northwest city of Mbandaka where an Ebola outbreak occurred earlier this year.
Martin Fayulu, the runner-up in the last presidential vote has announced his intention to run against Tshisekedi again. Opposition leader Moise Katumbi, the powerful ex-governor of the copper-producing Katanga province will also run.
DRC’s economy has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, hiking inflation and the cost of living in the mineral-rich country.
Insecurity has spiralled in the DRC’s volatile east since the M23 rebel group which authorities accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing staged a major offensive in March this year. Kigali continues to deny involvement despite contrary statements from United Nations experts. ALJAZEER
Procyon News
