Respected Catholic Priest Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo has described the 2023 General Elections which saw President Fèlix Tshisekedi re-elected as an “electoral disaster” following several irregularities that characterized the poll.
Tshisekedi was re-elected with an unreasonable over 70 percent of the vote ahead of challenger and popular opposition candidate Moïse Katumbi.
Several irregularities were noted in the elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) as well as both the international and local obsevers of the election.
Speaking in a TV interview, Cardinal Ambongo said the fraud which characterized the 2023 polls put the legitimacy of the results proclaimed by CENI into great doubt.
“An electoral disaster. A crisis of confidence in our electoral system. The population witnessed the fraud. Today the actors of this fraud themselves are speaking, and it is revolting when I hear that” Cardinal Ambongo said.
He regretted the great number of perpetrators of electoral fraud who have been exposed and found to have committed several irregularities including candidates who were found with voting materials and equipment in their homes.
“The question we ask ourselves is the question of legitimacy. Besides the name we use today, we don’t just say the people who will be elected but the people who will be appointed” he said.
Opposition candidates as well as other key stakeholders have requested for the annulation of the results proclaimed by CENI and fresh elections to be held.
