The DRC, or Democratic Republic of Congo has had what is proven to be a fair election but the 2 losing presidential candidates, Moise Katumbi and Martin Fayulu, seem to believe that the election was a complete sham. President Felix Tshisekedi won the election with 74% of votes, a landslide victory. The Catholic church, as well as the Church of Christ of Congo, have reported irregularities at the polls, including sights of malfunctioning voting devices, unopened polling stations, vote buying, plundering of polling materials, shoddy electoral lists, and even ballot stuffing. The election was still going, even on christmas eve, as several election stations failed to be open. The churches of the congo, as well as the candidates that placed second and third place, are all saying that this election was a sham.
I believe that this election was not a sham. Of course the losers of the election are going to say it was a sham, when have we ever heard of a presidential candidate taking a loss fairly and maturely? While there is a lot of corruption in Africa as a whole, I don’t see any reason to fudge election results in the congo, or at the very least make it abundantly obvious like a landslide win with 74% of votes, if they were to rig an election or manipulate it somehow it would never be that obvious. Besides, this would be President Tshisekedi’s second and final term, if he was voted in once, in what was perceived to be a fair election, it would make sense that he was voted in for a second consecutive term.
In class we talk about how rigged elections can still up public disapproval of office, or even a rebellion against the government as a whole. Luckily, the Congo has a term limit so that they can never fall into a situation like the one that Chinese, Russian, and North Korean citizens are in where they can not get a new president since there is no term limit. This will help stop a rebellion, hopefully the Congolese government can and will confirm the election results and put out a statement on the legitimacy of the election.