Gunmen Attack Polling Station in Democratic Republic of Congo
November 28, 2011
Scott Stearns | Kinshasa
Voting is under way in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where people are choosing a president and 500 members of the national assembly. Gunmen attacked a polling station in the southern Katanga province near the border with Zambia.
Reports from Lubumbashi say unidentified gunmen attacked a polling station in the Katangese capital late Monday morning, killing two policemen and burning ballots. Many polling stations in Lubumbashi still had not opened by mid-day, in part because of an earlier attack on vehicles carrying voting materials.
The incident was the latest of several that have disrupted the voting in this central African nation. On Saturday, at least three people were killed when riot police fired bullets and tear gas at supporters of the leading opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi. Tshisekedi proclaimed himself president ahead of the vote and said his supporters will, in his words, “take their responsibilities” if they do not believe this election is fair.
Another opposition candidate, Vital Kamerhe, says electoral fraud is under way, with fake polling stations meant to fool voters and ballots that have been marked for President Joseph Kabila in advance.
Electoral commission president Daniel Ngoy-Mulunda says those allegations have been investigated and have no merit.
Ngoy-Mulunda is calling on the Congolese people to go and vote as that is their right. He says there are no fictitious polling stations or pre-marked ballots. He says the electoral commission has organized a vote that is credible, dignified and transparent.
In a nationwide address Sunday evening, President Kabila said the country must take care not to go back to war and conflict.
He came to power after the 2001 assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, who led the rebellion against dictator Mobutu Sese Seko when this country was called Zaire.
President Kabila's 2006 run-off election against former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba led to heavy fighting in the capital that killed more than 100 people. There is no run-off this time, so whoever gets the most votes Monday wins.
Electoral observer David Pottie from the U.S.-based Carter Center says that makes the presidential winner's ability to work with lawmakers even more crucial to his success.
“The importance of the presidential election needs to be understood in the context of the equal importance of the legislative election, precisely because of this first-past-the-post system that has now been adopted for the presidential," said Pottie. "Any winning president facing the really likely prospect of having won the presidency with less than 50 percent of the vote and an extremely diverse parliament.”
Voters came out early in the capital Monday, as most polling stations here opened on time. At the Complexe Scolaire Bienheureuse Anuarite in Kinshasa's Gombe neighborhood, each classroom is a separate polling station with yellow-topped boxes for legislative ballots and blue-topped ballots for presidential votes.
The legislative ballots here look like small newspapers - 48 pages of names and photographs of some of the more than 18,000 candidates running for the national assembly. The presidential ballots are far simpler - a single sheet with 11 candidates.
Sylvie Lusamba Tengo voted for the longtime opposition leader, Tshisekedi.
Tengo says Tshisekedi is the best choice for Congo because she believes he will follow through on his campaign promise to put the people first," said Tengo. "When the needs of the people are put before the needs of their leaders, Tengo says the quality of life for everyone will improve.
Rufin Kasongo supports President Kabila. Kasongo says the problem in Congo is not about changing the president every time. It is about ending the country's isolation and developing its resources. Kasongo says President Kabila will improve the supply of electricity and strengthen Congo's infrastructure.
Vote counting begins as soon as polls close Monday, with final results to be announced before President Kabila's current mandate expires December 6.
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