Published on 06/12/2023
The fourth opposition candidate for the December 20 presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced Sunday in Kinshasa his withdrawal in favour of the former governor of Katanga (south-east) Moïse Katumbi.
“I decided, in a burst of excitement and national unity (…) to combine our forces with the candidacy of Moïse Katumbi,” declared in a message read to the press and distributed in particular on his Facebook account MP Delly Sesanga, leader of the Envol party (Together of Volunteers for the Development of the DRC).
At the start of the official campaign, on November 19, there were 26 presidential candidates, a single-round election organized at the same time as legislative, provincial and municipal elections. Outgoing President Félix Tshisekedi, candidate for a second term, is among them.
On the 19th, former Prime Minister (2012-2016) Augustin Matata Ponyo announced his withdrawal in favour of Moïse Katumbi, followed the next day by two other less-known candidates, Seth Kikuni and Franck Diongo.
Mr Sesanga, a virulent critic of Félix Tshisekedi whose candidacy he had nevertheless supported in the 2018 election, is, therefore, the 4th to rally Moïse Katumbi, a rich businessman and leader of the Ensemble pour la République party.
In his rallying message, he emphasizes the “common program developed” by the emissaries of four opposition candidates who met from December 13 to 17 in South Africa. The candidates concerned were Moïse Katumbi, Matata Ponyo, Delly Sesanga and the doctor and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege who remains in the running to this day.
Rallying to Moise Katumbi is part of this common program, “to build in unity and unity a new perspective for our country and our people who greatly need it,” declared Delly Sesanga.
“Our presidential voting method (…) leaves little choice, to escape the trap of dispersion of votes, than to come together to loosen the grip of electoral fraud,” he also estimated.
“The survival of our country is worth more than the ambitions of each person,” he declared, calling on “all (his) supporters” to vote for Moïse Katumbi and “all supporters of change” to do so. join.
Among the 22 remaining candidates is another opposition heavyweight, Martin Fayulu, an unsuccessful candidate in the 2018 election, whose representatives at the Pretoria discussions had not adhered to this common program.
