Voters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been left with more questions over the credibility of this week’s presidential election, amid fresh accusations of irregularities, as voting came to an end on an unplanned second day of balloting.
An observer mission formed by two church bodies, the Episcopal Conference of the Congo and the Church of Christ in the Congo, reported that 11% of voting machines had been set up at military schools, contrary to election law, according to reports from the local news site Actualite.cd.
The “chaos” described by voters and opposition candidates during Wednesday’s voting – when many polling stations did not open at all and 45% of voting machines malfunctioned – meant voting was extended in some areas until the end of Thursday.
In the capital, Kinshasa, those who did vote on Wednesday said they were waiting to hear the outcome. “I feel only a bit happy to have voted. I got the voting centre as usual [but] was surprised that our voting centre experienced three hours of delays,” said Alende Lutuko Tichiki, an engineering student who also volunteered as an observer.
Tichiki said the police had been unable to manage the crowd, which had been angered when some voters were able to skip the line because of their status. He also said some voters had not been able to find their names on the voting list.
“It will be hard to look at the results being published without casting any doubt on them,” he said. “We knew that elections in DRC occur just like this. We have many problems. But, the most important thing has been to vote – to avoid other troubles that would have occurred if the elections could not be organised.”
He said he was concerned about possible tensions, but hoped the results would be published by the election commission transparently.
Wednesday’s voting was plagued by administrative problems, with voting materials not delivered, machines malfunctioning and problems with voter ID cards and registration lists. About 44 million Congolese, in a country of more than 111 million, are registered to vote.
While five opposition candidates have demanded a rerun of the election, the two frontrunners – the incumbent president, Félix Tshisekedi, and his main rival, Moïse Katumbi – have not joined them.
Katumbi said on Thursday that despite the problems – including alleged violence against his supporters – the results collected so far showed he was in the lead.
Remadji Hoinathy, a senior researcher at the Insitute of Security Studies, said that while there was not much momentum in the call for a rerun at the moment, that could change if there were unexpected results.
Referring to the problems voters had faced, Hoinathy said: “This has all affected the view of the reliability of the votes and whether we can be sure everyone has been able to vote by the end of today.
“When the results come and how they will be welcomed is a big issue. People like Katumbi will wait for the vote today then, based on that, they will have their say about whether they respect the result or call for cancellation. But for now the trend to call for cancellation is not so strong.”
At some voting centres, local people stayed through the night to monitor the count. “It is important for me to be a witness in order to protect the voting process. Sometimes they steal our votes; that’s why we were sent here to protect our voting process,” Moise Ibadu, one of the local volunteers, told the AP news agency.
Marie Mbanga Mbuyi, 78, said she hoped there would not be tensions, and that while she had witnessed problems with voting machines malfunctioning, she was not concerned by how the vote had gone overall.
“We are just waiting for the results, nothing else. I tell those speculating to wait. Whoever is declared winner should be allowed to lead the country. That’s what I’m telling my children and grandchildren,” she said.
