The Democratic Republic of Congo government declared the opposition’s planned demonstration scheduled for Wednesday to protest alleged electoral irregularities on December 20-21, banned.
“The aim of tomorrow’s demonstration is to undermine the electoral process, and the government of the Republic cannot accept that”, Interior Minister Peter Kazadi told the press.
“I can assure you that there will be no such march”, he insisted.
In a publicized letter on Saturday, five opposition presidential candidates, including Martin Fayulu and Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work with women victims of wartime rape Denis Mukwege, notified the governor of Kinshasa about their intention to organize the Wednesday march, decrying observed irregularities as a “sham election.”
Moïse Katumbi’s opposition camp advocated for the outright cancellation of the elections. Since December 20, the opposition had criticized the elections as “total chaos.”
Nearly 44 million voters, out of a population of around 100 million, were called to participate in the quadruple ballot, extended by one day due to logistical issues.
Voting continued until Christmas in some remote areas. The preliminary results from the Electoral Commission, though still partial, positioned incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi well ahead with over 80% of the 1.8 million votes counted.
Discover more from National News Express
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
