DR Congo’s electoral commission on Monday slammed a report by the influential Catholic and Protestant churches criticising elections in December which led to the re-election of President Felix Tshisekedi.
Tshisekedi, in power since 2019, won re-election on December 20, garnering more than 73 percent of the vote in elections fraught with delays and bureaucratic chaos.
A report by the churches on Monday said there were “numerous irregularities” in the election, which the country’s electoral commission CENI organises and oversees.
The churches said these irregularities “are likely to undermine the integrity of the election results”.
They also denounced “nepotism” because “several politicians have managed to place members of their families in different elective positions”.
But one of the vice presidents of DR Congo’s electoral commission said the report “gives the impression that nothing worked” in the management of the polls.
“This report is a list of failures which are still not the fault of CENI,” said Didi Manara Linga during a presentation of the report.
Manara Linga said the report from the churches does not give information from previous elections which can be used as a comparison to December’s vote.
He added that CENI has sanctioned more than 80 people involved in electoral fraud, “without taking into account their ranks.”
In the general election, the vote was annulled for 82 candidates — including three government ministers and four provincial governors.
More than 40 million out of the 100 million inhabitants of the vast country were registered to vote in December for the president, as well as for national and regional lawmakers and municipal councillors.
Polling was officially extended by a day to account for multiple logistical snarls and continued for days afterwards in remote areas.