Democratic Republic of Congo Elections Pose Enormous Challenges
03 June 2006
Elections director of U.N. peacekeeping force recaps efforts to prepare for vote
By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo -- One of Africa’s largest and most populous countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is preparing for a national election in July and preparations are taxing the knowledge and resources of the international community, says Ali Diabacte, director of elections for the U.N. peacekeeping force called MONUC.
"Can you imagine? President [Joseph] Kabila has never voted in a really free election because there hasn’t been one in 45 years," Diabacte told the Washington File during an interview in his office at DRC’s independent electoral commission. "So, you get an idea where we’re starting from here.
"This is the most complicated electoral challenge the U.N. has ever faced," he declared.
Diabacte, a Togolese who teaches sociology in France, has worked on more than 11 elections worldwide for the United Nations in places like Kosovo and Liberia. He also worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for six years. The nongovernmental organization, which is chartered by the U.S. government, also is helping the Congolese prepare for their July 30 election -- the first free and open balloting since dictator Mobuto Sese Seko seized power in 1965.
After Mobutu was deposed in 1997, the DRC lurched from one crisis to another, even fighting a war with neighboring countries in the Great Lakes region. Peace accords signed in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1999 and Sun City, South Africa, in 2002 ended conflict and established a transition government.
The United Nations was authorized to provide a force -- MONUC -- whose aims were providing security, setting conditions for successful elections and helping with logistics and electoral training.
More than $400 million has been allocated to MONUC for election support. That is in addition to its $1.3 annual budget of which the United States contributes 27 percent -- the largest single-nation contribution. Much of that goes to support the roughly 16,000 MONUC troops actively operating against rebel militias in eastern Congo.
DRC ELECTION LARGEST EVER SUPPORTED BY UNITED NATIONS
Diabacte, who spoke while noisy demonstrators outside called for a postponement of the elections, said MONUC’s task was huge. "This is the biggest election the U.N. has been involved with since it was founded" in 1945.
Voter registration in itself was daunting, he added. "In a country where there are hardly any birth certificates or other forms of ID [identification] we have managed to register close to 26 million voters" out of a population of 58 million. "This is the most complex election in the world."
In all, 9,000 candidates from more than 200 parties are running for office including 500 seats in Parliament; 33 candidates are vying for the presidency.
"In a country with no roads, much air service and a poor to nonexistent telecommunications system, we have over 11,000 voting centers and about 50,000 polling stations to organize and prepare," he explained. In addition, MONUC has helped train 250,000 election workers.
Diabacte said another critical issue was ballot design. "In the West, where most of the electorate is literate and there are fewer candidates, actual ballots are fairly simple," he noted. But in DRC "we are having to design a single ballot for hundreds of candidates and each must have his picture beside his name."
He said ballot design was one project his MONUC election staff of 80 was working on in collaboration with the 350 independent electoral commission staff members located at 21 field offices throughout the DRC. "We want to create a peaceful, trouble-free environment to work with the commission and so far it’s happened -- we work very well together."
Herbert Brown, a retired U.S. diplomat who is director of election programs for the National Democratic Institute in DRC told the Washington File his organization was spending $2 million to help the Congolese prepare for the July 30 political contest.
"Right now we’re doing a lot of training relating to campaigns," he said. "That means working with Congolese political movements on: coalition-building, candidate selection, debates, and poll-watching."
Brown said one of the things that struck him about the DRC process was "the huge number of political parties involved -- over 260 now. You wonder how many are legitimate and how many have been formed for personal advantage. I guess we’ll find out after July.
For additional information on U.S. policy in the region, see Africa.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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