Exiled former Democratic Republic of Congo electoral commission boss Corneille Nangaa has disclosed that President Felix Tshisekedi did not win the 2018 presidential election.
Nangaa, who formed a political party before being forces into exile after becoming critical of the Tshisekedi regime, is the highest official to officially disclose what was already known.
Martin Fayulu is widely known to have won the 2018 election with Tshisekedi emerging a distant second.
“It was a dubious election. Joseph
Kabila begged me to accept Tshisekedi’s candidacy in the name of inclusive elections.
“I concededed for peace despite the criteria of law. In principle, he was not the winner from the
outset,” Nangaa told a press briefing on Thursday.
Nangaa said he had been forced to reveal the truth because the country had degenerated into chaos with political killings engineered by the Tshisekedi regime.
He paid tribute to recently assassinated opposition Ensemble pour la République spokesperson Chérubin Okende.
“Dear Cherubin, tell dad Etienne Tshisekedi that his son (Félix Tshisekedy) betrayed his fight for
democracy, good governance, the rule of law, social progress, as well as the priority of the
people under the slogan “People first.”
Nangaa said Tshisekedi had decapitated the fundamentals of democracy with citizens deprived of basic rights.
He said the DRC was now a country under a cult of personality
ownership of political space.
Nangaa said the nation and its
resources were being embezzled at will with the illicit enrichment of individuals.
“Justice is no longer fair, the elementary rules of electoral-democracy are superbly
rampled on, and misery is at its height,” he said.
The DRC will go to the polls on December 20, 2023 with tension rising in the country.
