Planning for the presidential and legislative elections has been dogged by logistical problems and spiralling costs as organisers race to deploy thousands of tonnes of electoral kit in the vast and unstable Central African nation.
More than 180,000 ballot boxes have yet to arrive from China and ballot papers are still being printed in South Africa, but the elections will be held on time, said Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, the president of the electoral commission, known as CENI.
“My friends, we are more than ready… We will not have a delay,” he said told a news conference on Thursday evening to launch the month-long campaign.
The decision not to order foldable ballot boxes could make them harder to transport, according to Fidel Sarassoro, deputy head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, which is helping with logistics.
“The sooner we have all the information from CENI the better,” he said. “It’s going to be very tight but it’s still possible.”
Many people remain “very very reluctant” to believe both polls will happen on time, said Albert Moleka, spokesman for the veteran politician and leading opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi.
Tshisekedi will not accept delaying the presidential vote but putting back the parliamentary election is possible if that were to prove necessary, Moleka said.
“The Congolese people don’t want some kind of devalued elections, they want fair, transparent and credible elections.”
Many observers and diplomats fear that staging the votes separately would hand a landslide victory to the new president when parliamentary polls are held. Previously the opposition has rejected the idea.
KABILA FAVOURITE
Eleven candidates are vying for the presidency and more than 18,000 are due to run for parliament. President Joseph Kabila is favourite to be re-elected despite facing stiff opposition from Tshisekedi and a former ally, Vital Kamerhe.