From our special correspondents in Kinshasa – Two days before the election which will choose the next president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the electoral commission says it has resolved the main logistical difficulties. A statement that leaves many observers perplexed. For citizen organizations as for the powerful Catholic Church, only the transparency of voting operations and counting will allow the winner to establish his legitimacy.
The scene hasn’t surprised anyone for weeks. At 9 a.m., in the already heavy heat of the end of the rainy season, around 200 people wait for the opening of the Ceni (Independent National Electoral Commission) branch in Lemba, one of the 24 communes of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.
Around 9:30 a.m., the first arrivals can finally access the offices to obtain a precious key: a duplicate of their voter card. Nelphine, a resident of the town, has already been patient for two hours. “The voter card is like the identity card. We need it to go to the bank, to get money. For those who depend on sending money from people who are in Europe or the United States, it’s very important.” As for millions of Congolese, his photo and identification number are completely erased from the original. “Compared to previous cards, this card has a real problem.”
In a press release dated Friday, December 15, five days before the election, the Ceni encourages those who have not managed to obtain their duplicate to still go to their polling station, where they “will be taken care of, depending on the case, by the staff”.
“We have the right to vote,” insists Nelphine. “I want to go and vote for my candidate and we want it to happen peacefully. If people don’t have their cards, no one will recognize the result of the election. It’s a serious problem,” continues- She.
Between challenge and chaos
The organization of the December 20 election has become a thriller in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many Congolese expected the vote to be postponed after the CENI increased requests last week for operational support from the government, neighboring Angola and even MONUSCO, the United Nations Mission. united for stabilization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This, present for more than 20 years in the east of the country with 12,500 peacekeepers, should however leave the country soon at the request of the Congolese government.
On D-2, Denis Kadima, president of the Ceni, appears confident and ensures that electoral materials will be present in all 75,000 polling stations. Endowed with a budget which would be around a billion dollars (or approximately 920 million euros) to organize this gigantic ballot which, in addition to deciding between 26 presidential candidates, should allow the election of thousands of national, provincial and of municipal councilors, the Ceni has experienced many setbacks. In addition to poor quality voter cards, the transportation by air of thousands of tons of ballots and electronic counting machines in a country of 2.5 million km2 (an area corresponding to two thirds of the EU) requires logistics which have only been put in place slowly.
But “the real battle is the state of the roads”, assures Luc Lutala, the spokesperson for the Symocel (Synergy of citizen election observation missions). More than the air resources made available to the CENI, he believes that “the problem in the provinces is the delivery (of electoral materials) between the ‘hub’ and the capitals of the territories”.
Read alsoCandidates, logistics, calendar… what you need to know about the general elections in DR Congo
Returning from a field visit to the province of Tshopo, he was able to note the presence in Kisangani, the provincial capital and electoral “hub”, of so-called “sensitive” material, but questions the capacity of the Ceni to send it to the main towns of the territories on time.
“We are dealing with a Ceni which does not speak (…). If, in the final sprint, it mobilizes resources, it is able to succeed in the challenge. We must believe that the Ceni will keep its word (…) . And then when voting day comes, we’ll see what happens.”
Tens of thousands of observers
On Wednesday, Symocel, which brings together around ten Congolese civil society associations, will deploy “22,000 field observers, to cover more or less 80% of voting sites”. Paul Kabeya, spokesperson for Citizen view, another citizen organization, also claims to have “22,500 observers who have been trained. The law allows any observer to be present in the local results compilation center and we will be there.”
Luc Lutala believes that the electoral campaign took place correctly. “It’s not the best campaign but it wasn’t the worst either. Last week, we had several candidates who reported restrictions,” he notes. “In Kinshasa, Martin Fayulu complains that he was banned from the Martyrs stadium. There were altercations between the supporters of one or the other candidate, and more specifically between those of Félix Tshisekedi and those of Moïse Katumbi. There were attacks by militants, dispersed meetings. There were also deaths of men.”
However, the lessons of the previous election in 2018, which saw the victory of Félix Tshisekedi, the outgoing president who is running for a second term, have not, according to him, been learned. “In 2023, we obviously have the same problems as in 2018, but worsened. We think that there is a lack of planning but also of transparency so that all the problems are managed in a fairly anticipated and much more professional manner. We “We think there are really internal problems at the CENI regarding its ability to plan,” he adds.
In 2018, the missions observing the electoral process and the counting of votes affirmed that their counting was very different from that, official, of the CENI. This gave the advantage to Félix Tshisekedi while observers noted a large lead for Martin Fayulu. The latter, a new candidate, still contests the result of the last presidential election.
While authorized to monitor the vote, observers cannot legally publish their vote tallies. “Only the CENI will publish provisional results, before the courts give so-called final results, which are irrevocable,” explains Paul Kabeya. “Disputed results, results which do not create a consensus would be very bad news for the country. This is why we need good elections,” hopes Luc Lutala.
The Catholic Church, a major player
In 2018, the Congolese Catholic Church had not published its own figures from its observation mission either, but affirmed that “the analysis of the elements in his possession makes him believe that the results of the presidential election do not correspond to the figures of his observers”.
With the influence it has exercised in the country’s public life since independence in 1960, the Church has cast persistent doubt on the credibility of the 2018 electoral process. With a system mobilizing 40,000 people this year (observers citizens, accredited observers and a battery of experts and analysts), “the objective is to observe the process with the intention of making recommendations. And the goal is to know the truth of the ballot boxes” , says Mgr Donatien Nshole, secretary general of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco) since February 2017.
“If things go correctly, there will be no contradiction between what the CENI will publish and what we will have observed. In this case, it will be our great contribution to the legitimacy of those who will be proclaimed elected. In the event of a discrepancy, there will be a problem,” he explains in his office in Kinshasa.
On the walls, several photos recall the visit of Pope Francis in January-February 2023 to this country of almost 100 million inhabitants, 90% Christian. At the Martyrs stadium in Kinshasa, the sovereign pontiff launched a resounding “Take your hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo: it is not a mine to be exploited nor a land to be robbed.” After these words spoken before President Félix Tshisekedi, the archbishop of Kinshasa had expressed his wish to “see free, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections held”.
On the eve of the election, the Church intends to once again throw its weight behind it. “In 2018, we asked the population to calm down and wait for the verdict of the Constitutional Court,” recalls Mgr Nshole. “But this time, the bishops sent another message: they ask voters not to leave the polling station before the posting (of the results). Because it is the fundamental step.”
After the alternation in 2018, the transparency of the ballot in 2023?
With the social institutions that it directs in the fields of education and health, which often compensate for the absence of the State, the Catholic Church has a voice that weighs all the more as it is present in the deeper in the country.
“The population is invited, in accordance with the Constitution, to defend its sovereignty in relation to the truth of the ballot boxes in a peaceful manner. Because the bishops are convinced that it is in the consolidation of democracy that the Congolese people will be put at the center concerns of those in power”, continues Donatien Nshole.
In 2018, the election of Félix Tshisekedi marked the first democratic alternation without violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2023, the fundamental issue lies in the proper conduct of the vote and the transparency of the vote count so that the next president obtains the confidence and legitimacy he will need to meet the immense challenges that await him.
In his parish of Saint-Charles-Lwanga, after mass, Father Richard invites his faithful to remain confident and to pray. “I can only encourage them, it is a civic duty. I encourage those who are committed to taking on roles in our country. I can only bless them as they move forward. What I wish is that there is no violence, because violence sets us back.”
On Wednesday, from 6 a.m., the Congolese will finally know if their prayers and incantations will open the doors of the polling stations. The announcement of the results is expected on December 31, just before the new year.
This report was produced with the participation of Ivan Kasongo, a journalist based in Kinshasa.
