Joseph Kabila, the current President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, insisted that the then-approaching elections for a new President would indeed occur on December 30 after being postponed for over two years. The elections are continuing regardless of multiple ebola outbreaks in the Eastern DRC- Butembo, Yumbi, and Beni have all postponed their elections- and a recent fire in the capital of Kinshasa, which postponed the elections a week further than originally expected. Kabila, who has ruled the mineral rich country of the DRC for over 17 years (he replaced his father, a former rebel leader, as President after he was assassinated by a bodyguard), denies rumors that he is continuing to postpone elections in order to extend his term in office. In a recent interview in the Presidential Palace in Kinshasa, Kabila blamed the lengthy (two year) registration process for 46 million voters on the postponement of the election. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has over 80 million citizens and as many as 21 potential candidates for President, yet this election appears to be following the same pattern as previous elections- there has not been a peaceful power transition in the DRC since its independence in 1960. Additionally, the EU has renewed sanctions against 14 DRC officials due to violence during street protests and continued delayed elections. The official results of the election are expected to be released on January 15.
I found this article to be interesting because it is really difficult to know whether President Kabila is actually extending the elections to remain in office. Considering that the elections have supposedly been postponed for reasons outside of Kabila’s control, such as Ebola, why is he insisting on holding the elections if his goal is to stay in power?
I was curious about the fact that there 46 million expected voters in a country of 80 million citizens- why is almost 1/2 the population not voting? I was also amazed by the fact that there are so many candidates and that Kabila has managed to hold onto his Presidency for 17 years! Although I definitely don’t know much about politics in the DRC, Google says that the term length is five years for a DRC President. Why has Kabila been able to hold office for 3 terms and why is he only now stepping down? I also found it interesting that he basically inherited the position from his father, which is not very democratic. What happened in those elections? I’m definitely interested to see if the citizens of the DRC will continue to support Kabila or if the new President will be completely different.