Congo heads to the polls for tense, long-delayed presidential vote
KINSHASA, (Reuters) - Voters in Democratic Republic of Congo head to the polls today for a presidential election that could lead to the country’s first democratic transfer of power but has been marred by campaign violence and chaotic preparations.
President Joseph Kabila, in power since his father’s assassination in 2001, is due to step down after the vote in a milestone for a country plagued by authoritarian rule, coups and civil wars since independence from Belgium in 1960.
Kabila’s agreement to stick to constitutional term limits should represent progress for the mineral-rich central African country.
Critics, however, say the vote will be tarnished by fraud, and that Kabila could continue to rule from the sidelines. He has not ruled out running again for president in 2023.
Despite repeated delays to the election, which was originally meant to take place in 2016, diplomats and poll observers say authorities are illprepared, raising fears of a repeat of the violence that followed elections in 2006 and 2011.
Security forces killed more than half a dozen opposition supporters on the campaign trail and violent protests erupted this week after authorities announced that three opposition strongholds, accounting for more than 1.2 million out of 40 million voters nationwide, would not be able to vote due to health risks from an ongoing Ebola outbreak and ethnic violence.