DR Congo Polls Open Amid Conflict In East, Delays

Polling stations opened Wednesday in a high-stakes Democratic Republic of Congo general election pitting the incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi against a fragmented opposition, while much of the east of the country is mired in conflict

Kinshasa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Dec, 2023) Polling stations opened Wednesday in a high-stakes Democratic Republic of Congo general election pitting the incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi against a fragmented opposition, while much of the east of the country is mired in conflict.

Polling stations opened at 6 am (0400 GMT in the east; 0500 GMT in the west) and will close at 5 pm local time.

AFP journalists saw the first voter casting his ballot at a polling station in the eastern city of Kisangani, which sits in a region an hour ahead of the west of the huge country, which straddles two time zones.

Voting then began in several other cities, according to AFP teams, but with delays and bureaucratic difficulties.

One 30-year-old man, who had waited in line for three hours in the eastern city of Goma, said he was getting impatient and would soon give up. "We're tired. It's always a mess here," he said.

Logistical problems have plagued the organization of this election, with the electoral commission struggling to transport voting materials to tens of thousands of polling booths on time.

Many polling booths in the capital Kinshasa had still not opened by the morning.

"I came here at 5 in the morning, I'm tired," said Germaine Kikongo, a 67-year-old civil servant, interviewed at a polling booth in the Kinshasa district of Lingwala at 8 am.

Voters still waiting in line at 5 pm will be given tokens and polling booths will stay open until they cast their votes, an official at the electoral commission told AFP.

The government declared a bank holiday for Wednesday, and as during previous elections, it closed the borders and suspended domestic flights.

Around 44 million Congolese, in a nation of 100 million, are registered to choose their president as well as lawmakers in national and provincial assemblies, and local councillors.

More than 100,000 candidates are running for various positions, and while counting is set to begin as soon as polling stations close, results are not expected to be announced for several days.

Several observation missions will be watching the voting process, with the largest one run by a union of Catholic and Protestant churches mobilising 25,000 election observers.

Leaders of this influential mission promised Tuesday to conduct a "parallel count" for the presidential election.