Kinshasa, December 17 (Prensa Latina) With just three days to go until elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced the deployment of a monitoring mission during the elections.
The regional organization had already announced its intention during the extraordinary summit of heads of state in Luanda on November 4, but it was confirmed the day before by the head of the SADC delegation to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Enock Kavindele.
After a meeting with the Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Regional Integration, Kavindele said the mission would monitor the development of the process across the country on December 20, when around 44 million registered voters would elect the president among 26 candidates.
SADC encouraged the Congolese people to participate massively in these elections, in which citizens will also have to vote for the election of their deputies, members of provincial bodies and municipal councils.
The elections raise concerns in the region due to the conflict and violence experienced by the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the east of the country.
Several actors and civil society are also concerned about the logistical problems that remain just a few hours before the start of the vote.
As of December 14, the Po na Congo network said it had counted at least 18 million voters who had not received duplicate voter cards.
The network's coordinator, Charis Basoko, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) to take necessary measures to update the voters' register, resolve cases of lost voter ID cards, including illegible ones, and registered persons not appearing in the census .
According to a survey carried out by this body, 30 percent of voters are not registered on the electoral roll, which will increase distrust in the CENI and raise suspicions of massive fraud, which in turn increases the risk of violence.
ode/kmg