The leader of the political party « Engagement for Citizenship and Development » (ECIDE) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Martin Fayulu, announced on Monday during a press conference in Kinshasa, his decision to condition the filing of applications for its training by auditing the electoral register by a competent external firm.
“We announce to the national and international option that we have decided not to submit the candidacies of our members at all levels of the elections, as long as the electoral file, the list of voters will not be redone transparently and audited by an outside firm competent in the matter,” he said.
Fayulu does not trust the external audit of the electoral register organized in Kinshasa from May 15 to 20 by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The five national and international experts selected had presented the conclusions of their audit work on May 22.
Basically, the opponent points to abuses in the current electoral process. He underlined « the operation of identification and registration of voters (which) took place in the most total opacity », the number of voters given by the CENI which would be « totally false », with » fabricated names, deceased persons, minors and other persons who cannot be voters”.
« In view of the gravity of the situation, we say no to an electoral parody », he hammered, demanding « a minimum of consensus around the rules of the game and the principles which should lead the actors to the elections of December 2023″ .
Fayulu attacked the ruling president, whom he still accuses of stealing his victory in 2019. According to him, Felix Tshisekedi “wants to obtain another fraudulent mandate in order to change the Constitution by extending the mandate of the president of the Republic at seven years, so he can stay in power as long as possible to complete the project of balkanization of our country, divide the Congolese by tribalism, perpetuate corruption and sell off the country’s resources.
He called on the international community to be “sensitive to the suffering (…) of the Congolese people” and not to deploy any observation mission in the current circumstances.
ECIDE seeks “the involvement of the presidents of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the president of the Republic of Congo, as in 2016, so as to bring all Congolese stakeholders together in order to introduce the necessary corrections to the process and to agree on the rules of the electoral game ».
By OMA Newsletter N° 1221 of 19/06/2023
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
