By Paschal Norbert
KINSHASA, JANUARY 19, 2024 (CISA)- Ahead of President Felix Tshisekedi’s inauguration on January 20, 2024, and with presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) still contested, Catholic bishop’s condemned the December elections as fraudulent and warned that it could undermine the unity of the fragile country.
“These elections were characterized, in general, by fraud, large-scale corruption, vandalism of electoral materials, incitement to violence, illegal detention of DEVs, buying of consciences, intolerance, impudence, attacks on human rights, human life and the dignity people going so far as to publicly humiliate women,” said the bishops.
In a strongly worded statement released on January 18 by the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), the bishops averred that their statement was informed by the findings of the electoral observation mission of the CENCO.
“We followed with sadness the progress of the electoral operations directly from our dioceses, which cover the entire territory of DRC and indirectly through the joint Electoral Observation Mission of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo and the Church of Christ in Congo (MOE CENCO-ECC). We cannot silence what we have seen and heard,” noted the prelates.
Declaring that the elections of December 20, 2023, were an electoral disaster, the bishops castigated the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) for being at the centre of the debacle.
“It turns out that the chaos recorded during this 4th edition of the elections is partly due to the obstinacy of the CENI, which, given the constraints of which it was nevertheless aware, organized the elections by defiance, in violation of the national framework, legal and electoral administration,” they stated.
According to the bishops, the MOE discovered an impressive number of parallel votes and voting machines in private homes, electronic voting devices (EVDs) and ballot rolls with individuals.
“The CENI should question its role in this imbroglio because it is the one that has exclusive control of all these machines,” they posed.
“These numerous irregularities observed, the incidents noted and the fraud declared seriously affected the elections and undermined the confidence of voters, ” averred the bishops.
The bishops warned that there is a deliberate attempt to turn the country into a one-party state, a move they say will be a fatal drawback to the democratic gains that DRC has attained in the previous years.
“Questions arise about the perception that the Congolese people will have of the next parliament, especially since considering the provisional results of the national legislative elections, we see, at the current stage, that there is only more or less 6% of MPs from the opposition,” they noted.
“God only knows how we got there. This situation carries a great risk of returning to a single-party system, which would be a major setback for our emerging democracy,” the prelates contended.
With a history of disputed elections that can turn violent and little confidence in the country’s institutions, for the Catholic bishops, DRC is in danger and risks descending into more violence and divisions.
“Our country is in danger, no Nation can be built with disregard for moral values. Considering the multiple challenges from a socio-political, economic and security point of view, which our country, the DRC, faces, we appeal, once again, to the competent authorities whose mission is to ensure stability, justice and national cohesion, to use wisdom and conscious intelligence to build a new Congo,” they counselled.
On December 30, 2023, CENI announced that President Tshisekedi had won his second term in office with more than 70% of the vote, ahead of businessman Moise Katumbi with 18% and Martin Fanyulu with 5%. The election had more than a 40% turnout with some 18 million people voting.
