Catholic Bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo have stepped in to quel fears President Felix Tshisekedi and his stooges have cooked up the voter’s roll with fictitious voters and announced they will launch an independent citizen’s audit in liaison with the Independent Electoral Commission (CENI).
The voter’s register, the unconstitutional composition of CENI & the Constitutional Court have been contentious issues raised by the opposition but ignored by President Felix Tshisekedi’s government as part of a process to holding a free, fair, inclusive, transparent and credible election.
Two major opposition leaders Martin Fayulu and former president Joseph Kabila have both boycotted participation in the polls arguing that Tshisekedi has already designed a rigging mechanism to cheat his way to victory.
The Bishop’s body known as CENCO announced on Friday that a transparent and inclusive election is a key ingredients to the peace and stability of the wartorn central African nation.
“The context that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is going through today characterized by war in the East and violent communal conflict in the West as well as in
several other areas of this country can lead to crisis difficult to manage,” says Cryrille Ebokotoko Longomo, executive secretary and coordinator of the projects, says.
Longomo says it is important to reassure all stakeholders in order to have an honest and peaceful elections within the constitutional deadline.
“It is for this purpose that the CENCO and ECC Electoral Observation Mission (MOE
CENCO-ECC) contributes by deploying an electoral observation mission citizen, with technical support from The Carter Center,” Longomo explains.
He says Bishops and stakeholders believe that it is necessary to carry out, in collaboration with the CENI, two major actions to restore the confidence of all
actors in the electoral process and promote the acceptance of the result which will guarantee peace and social cohesion:
“Currently, the electoral file divides certain political actors and the Electoral Commission
National Independent (CENI). Indeed, for not having invited an international organization
independent for the external audit of the electoral register, the CENI did not favor the perception
by the public of an independent and transparent verification’
Thus, in order to defuse this crisis around the electoral register, the EOM CENCO-ECC intends to carry out a citizen audit of the said file.
“Clearly, it is a question of carrying out this audit with the support of the CENI itself. Indeed, the sample that will be used for this activity must be available by the ITs of the CENI in collaboration with those of the MOE.
“This sample will thus be used, in
a first phase, of field verification in order to be reassured that the people who find themselves in the CENI database are those found in the field.
“In a second phase, the MOE will bring back another sample from the field, this time, people not included in the first sample for verification in the CENI database,” he said.
Longomo says at every stage, the audit of the file should done in very close collaboration with the CENI as the report resulting from the exercise is intended for CENI to hold a credible election on December 20, 2023.
With Fayulu and Kabila’s FCC out of the race so far, Tshisekedi faces fierce opposition from popular former Katanga Governor Moise Katumbi.
Former Prime Minister under Kabila’s government Augustin Matata Mapon, National Deputy Delly Sesanga and Adolphe Muzito are some of the candidates also challenging Tshisekedi.
