In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni) continues to publish the results of last week's parliamentary elections. Among the numerous election observation missions set up for this process, one of the most important is that of the grouping of Catholic and Protestant churches called the National Bishops' Conference of the Congo (Cenco ECC). The first conclusions were published in a preliminary report on Thursday, December 28th.
Published on: December 28, 2023 – 11:10 p.m
2 minutes
With our special correspondents in Kinshasa, Paulina Zidi and Boris Vicith
“The Congolese people have once again done justice to their history”: with these solemn words, Father Donatien Nshole of Cenco introduced the conclusions of this preliminary report. He notes the enthusiasm of voters despite the incidents and the voting lasting several days: The Mission questions in particular the legality of this delay.
She also mentions Irregularities that could affect the integrity of the results. Cenco asks Céni to clarify whether they are in a position to jeopardize the process. According to Donatien Nshole, Secretary General of Cenco, many points still raise questions.
“We in the Céni ask to draw conclusions with full responsibility from everything we have found in this report and in particular we ask to reassure stakeholders, to indicate the number of polling stations open on December 20th and .” that of the offices that were opened afterwardsand how many voting machines and ballot papers were used regularly. I believe that with these response elements we can have greater security,” affirms the Cenco boss.
Same trend between the figures compiled by the Céni and the Cenco ECC
Donatien Shole insists that this report is only preliminary and that it is a little too early to draw all conclusions from this process. However, the organization argues that it wants to call on the CENI to assume its responsibilities before announcing overall results so that they are accepted by all: “An electoral process must be consensual, adds Eric Nsenga, the ECC spokesperson. he must not burn the country down. »
The Cenco ECC Mission has also moved forward with its own parallel compilation of results and does not provide figures in accordance with the electoral law, but notes that these trends are consistent with those of the Electoral Commission: it affirms “this one candidate”. stands out clearly from others.
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