DR Congo election: Polling under way in tense vote
People in the Democratic Republic of Congo are voting for a new president in an election delayed for more than two years.
Close to 40 million people are eligible to vote for a successor to President Joseph Kabila – in power since 2001.
But the run-up has been hit by violence and controversy over the decision to exclude some 1.2 million from voting.
On Saturday, rival candidates also failed to agree on a statement aimed at reducing tension before the poll.
Voting began at 05:00 (04:00 GMT) and ends at 17:00.
What are voters saying?
If everything passes without incident, this will be the first peaceful transition in DR Congo since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
The current president took over from his assassinated father Laurent in 2001, but he is barred from running for another term under the constitution.
Five things to know about DRC
He was supposed to step down two years ago, but the election was postponed after the electoral commission said it needed more time to register voters
The decision triggered violent clashes, as the opposition accused Mr Kabila of trying to cling on to power.
Then last week, the election was delayed again, for seven days, because of problems deploying voting materials to polling sites.
This all came after thousands of electronic voting machines – being used for the first time – were destroyed in a fire in the capital, Kinshasa.
More on the key presidential hopefuls
The ex-oil tycoon
Kabila’s ‘hardline’ choice
The man trying to outdo his father
There are 21 candidates, but three frontrunners:
- Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, a former interior minister and Kabila loyalist, who was hit by European Union sanctions for his role in the violent suppression of opposition protests in 2017
- Martin Fayulu, a former oil executive who has promised “a dignified and prosperous Congo”, but who poor Congolese feel may not advance their cause
- Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the son of a late veteran opposition leader who has promised to make the fight against poverty his priority
What are voters saying?
Fidele Imani voted in Kinshasa and told the BBC: “We have been waiting for two years and I’m happy to vote today. We want change here, we need peace and security and people need more employment opportunities.”
Francois Balumwege, also voted in the capital: “I feel liberated I am happy, I completed my civic duty, I have just voted in an election which is, for us today, very historic. Because it will allow the Congolese to see one president hand over power to another president.”
EU and US observers not invited
The three leading candidates and electoral officials met in a Kinshasa hotel on Saturday to, as Mr Fayulu said, “sign an agreement which ensures we will all behave correctly during and after the electoral process”.
But in the end, he and Mr Tshisekedi wanted amendments and refused to sign the text.
This week, voting in three districts was postponed until March, with the electoral commission blaming insecurity and an Ebola virus outbreak.
About 1.2 million people will not be able to vote on Sunday as a result.
The decision in effect cancelled their votes, as the new president is due to be sworn in by mid-January regardless.
A crowd attacked an Ebola clinic in the east of the country after the announcement.
Regional observers will be keeping a close eye on voting, but European and US observers, who had concluded previous elections in the country had lacked credibility, have not been invited.
More on the key presidential hopefuls
The ex-oil tycoon
Kabila’s ‘hardline’ choice
The man trying to outdo his father
What is the significance of DR Congo?
The vast central African state is rich in mineral resources and is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, used to power mobile phones and electric cars.
However, it has high levels of poverty, bad infrastructure, and a political and business elite accused of enriching itself at the expense of the poor.
It has also been at the centre of what some observers call “Africa’s world war”, between 1997 and 2003.
The conflict claimed up to six million lives, either as a direct result of fighting or because of disease and malnutrition. BBC News.
