Congo votes in extended, chaotic election as opposition seeks rerun

By Ange Kasongo and Christophe Van Der Perre

KINSHASA (Reuters) -The Democratic Republic of Congo voted on Thursday on the second day of a chaotic and in parts violent general election after authorities extended opening hours for polling stations that failed to open the previous day.

The elections across Africa’s second-largest country were disrupted on Wednesday by delays in delivering election kits and malfunctioning equipment. People also struggled to find their names on registers, while violence caused chaos in other places.

The decision by the election commission, known as CENI, to extend the vote was rejected by five presidential candidates who have called for a rerun.

At stake is not just the legitimacy of the next administration. Congolese election disputes often spark violent unrest with potentially far-reaching consequences. Congo is the world’s third-largest producer, and the top producer of cobalt, a battery component needed for the green transition.

Early on Thursday in Kabare in Congo’s restive eastern region, 21-year-old Jean Claude Irenge Kalumuna was among the first residents to cast his vote.

“It makes me happy because yesterday I left here angry,” Kalumuna said. “I condemn this way of operating by the CENI with all this disorder, which proves that they were not ready, but they led people to believe that everything was ready.”

At a school in the capital Kinshasa, Reuters reporters saw voting taking place in one classroom, while vote-counting from Wednesday was under way in another.

Throughout Wednesday, observers warned about delays and failures to open polling stations and other issues, including malfunctioning electronic voting systems.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, CENI president Denis Kadima acknowledged that many polling stations had opened late and some not at all.

He said that around 70% of voters had been able to vote and that the delays would not affect the credibility of the process.

Five opposition candidates, including top challengers Martin Fayulu and Nobel Laureate Denis Mukwege, said the commission had no constitutional or legal right to extend the vote.

They demanded “the reorganisation of these failed elections by a differently structured CENI” and at a date agreed by all stakeholders in a joint statement late on Wednesday.

Congo’s former ruling coalition, the Common Front for Congo of former president Joseph Kabila, called the elections a “parody” that had brought shame on the country.

It said that half the polling stations had not opened on Wednesday and two-thirds of those that did faced problems.

“What we witnessed today was a genuine shipwreck of the electoral process,” the coalition said in a statement late on Wednesday. It asked its members to stand by for further instructions on actions to be taken.

The tumult of election day followed a campaign marred by political violence and repeated warnings from the opposition and observers about a lack of transparency. Their concerns included issues with the voter list and illegible ID cards.

For months, the electoral commission rejected the opposition’s allegations of mismanagement and fraud. It insisted it could deliver a free and fair vote as promised, even as critics flagged irregularities they said would jeopardise the legitimacy of the results.

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