That the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is due to hold elections on December 20 is not in doubt. What is in doubt, a week to those polls, is whether the country is ready to hold elections in every corner of the republic on that day.
And that forms part of the reasons the presidential elections, especially, are important to the Congolese and foreigners alike.
DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni) says that the deadline will be met to hold elections that have cost $1.2 billion to prepare. But the same Ceni recently sent a letter to President Félix Tshisekedi “urgently” requesting four fixed-wing aircraft and 10 helicopters to transport electoral material throughout the country.
For starters, DRC is a vast country and travelling from one corner to another usually takes up to two hours by air as there are no proper roads to link regions. Yet, there are more than 75,478 polling stations in the DRC for this election.
While the Congolese government has not yet responded favourably to the request from the electoral commission, the DRC through its Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zénon Mukongo, on Tuesday sent a request to the UN Security Council asking “urgently” for logistical support from Monusco (the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo) for the distribution of electoral material.For the Congolese, this election could be historic: An incumbent could retain his seat through the ballot, or a new president could take power peacefully after the ballot making it only the second such occasion in the country’s six-decade independence.
But all that doesn’t just depend on the candidates. It will depend on Ceni’s conduct, just as much as the local security situation.
In Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, provinces in the east of the DRC, Monusco had already helped to transport tons of electoral material. This is the region that hasn’t known peace in the last three decades and recent violence has threatened the very polls everyone hopes could help make it peaceful. Congolese authorities admit the biggest start will be for everyone to cast their ballot.
The government would be grateful if the Security Council would authorize Monusco to extend this support to other provinces,” wrote Zénon Mokongo, the DRC’s envoy wrote on December 12.
That is also paradoxical: For months, Congolese authorities lampooned Monusco, and the East African Community Regional Forces (EACRF) for sitting on their hands and failing to tame violence in the east. EACRF mandate ended on December 8, and troops are to completely depart by January 7.
Their role in this election is not yet defined. Monusco’s departure season is also due, as they are to leave starting December this year until December 2024.
On December 9, the national Congolese press agency announced that Angola had agreed to come to the aid of Ceni with its air fleet.
Some 22 candidates are squaring it out, including President Tshisekedi, Martin Fayulu, Moise Katumbi and Denis Mukwege.