The vote throughout Africa’s second-largest nation was derailed on Wednesday over logistical points.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has concluded a second day of voting in chaotic elections after logistical issues compelled officers to increase the balloting.
Voting within the impoverished however mineral-rich Central African nation prolonged into Thursday after some polling stations didn’t open in any respect on the primary day of the overall elections.
Some opposition candidates and observers stated the unscheduled extension of the vote might open the outcomes as much as authorized challenges.
The DRC, one of many poorest international locations on this planet regardless of its huge reserves of copper, cobalt and gold, has a historical past of disputed elections that may flip violent.
Africa’s second largest nation held 4 concurrent elections on Wednesday – to choose a president, nationwide and regional lawmakers, and native councillors.
President Felix Tshisekedi, 60, is operating for a second time period towards a backdrop of years of financial development however little job creation and hovering inflation.
Tshisekedi, who took workplace in 2019 and confronted 18 challengers, says he needs a second time period to “consolidate his gains”.
‘Genuine shipwreck’
Wednesday’s voting was marked by huge delays nationwide because the Independent National Electoral Commission struggled to ship supplies to voting stations lengthy after polls had been meant to have opened.
Denis Kadima, the top of the fee, declared on Wednesday night time that folks in locations the place casting ballots had proved not possible would vote on Thursday.
It was not clear what number of polling stations that concerned, however voting occurred in cities within the jap DRC, within the southeastern metropolis of Lubumbashi and within the capital, Kinshasa, in line with the Agence France-Presse information company.
The vote was principally peaceable, however within the east, a polling sales space was ransacked by displaced individuals who couldn’t solid ballots. In Kinshasa, journalist Pascal Mulegwa was allegedly assaulted by pro-government activists, in line with Reporters Without Borders.
Opposition presidential candidate Moise Katumbi, whose group has been compiling its personal vote rely, stated outcomes to date confirmed him within the lead. He made the declare in a joint assertion with opposition backers that additionally alleged widespread irregularities within the conduct of the vote.
The former ruling coalition, the Common Front for Congo of ex-President Joseph Kabila, referred to as the elections a parody that had introduced disgrace on the nation.
“What we witnessed today was a genuine shipwreck of the electoral process,” the coalition stated in a press release on Wednesday, because it requested its members to face by for additional directions on actions to be taken.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/21/dr-congo-votes-on-second-day-of-chaotic-general-elections?traffic_source=rss
