Congo-Brazzaville - 2009 - Election
Denis Sassou Nguesso was reelected president in the 12 July 2009 election with 78 percent of the vote. Officially, 66 percent of eligible voters participated in the election, although the opposition estimated the turnout to be much lower. While the election was peaceful, opposition candidates and NGOs criticized the election for irregularities, such as a discrepancy between the officially reported rates of voter participation and that observed by independent election observers. The African Union declared the elections to have been free and fair. Prior to the election, the EU representative questioned the method of updating the voter registry. Following the election, the government restricted the travel of several opposition politicians including Mathias Dzon and Herve Malonga. These restrictions were lifted on October 30.
Major political parties included the ruling Congolese Labor Party; the Pan-African Union for Social Development; the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integrated Development; the Union for Democracy and the Republic; the Rally for Democracy and Social Progress; and the Union for Progress. Opposition parties encountered government restrictions, particularly with regard to the right to organize. Political opposition parties were restricted from organizing before, during, and after the July presidential elections.
Following the July election, the newly appointed government included a number of high-ranking politicians from northern ethnic tribes as well as a number of representatives from other regions and ethnicities.
The government prevented political parties from organizing public events. On July 15, security forces prevented the opposition political parties led by opposition leader Mathias Dzon from holding their press conference at the parliament. The incident resulted in a public disturbance in which police were required to intervene.
Opposition parties cited three other instances of state interference in their peaceful assembly during the year 2009. The opposition party, Front des Partis de L'Opposition Congolaise, claimed it was forbidden to hold meetings on April 11 in Kinkala, on April 5 in Pointe Noire, and simultaneously on July 15 in the cities of Pointe Noire, Dolisie, Mossendjo, Nkayi, Ouesso, Owando, and Kinkala. During the July 15 assembly, a policeman fired a warning shot which injured two bystanders. There were no further developments by year's end.
During the year several political opposition leaders were banned from travelling outside the country. Ange Eduard Poungui, vice president of the Panafrican Union for Social Democracy (UPADS); opposition leader Mathias Dzon; and Emmanuel Ngouelondele, president of the Party for Democratic Alternance, were turned away at Brazzaville's airport as they attempted to board international flights. The government claimed the ban was due to an ongoing investigation into the role of these individuals in the July 15 protest, which resulted in a shooting. The complete list of individuals banned from travel was not publicly announced. Effectively, the only way for members of the opposition to know whether they were banned from foreign travel was to attempt to board an international flight.
The National Transitional Council, or CNT, was dominated by members of the ruling party. The parliament currently in place was a transitional body composed of officials who were appointed, not elected.
Congo's top court dismissed an appeal by an opposition alliance to cancel legislative elections, clearing the way for a ruling party victory. In Brazzaville, voters took little interest in the ballot. The constitutional court ruled November 01, 2009 y it could not deal with the appeal by an opposition alliance to cancel the elections, because those bringing the case are not candidates.
In fact, the group of 41 parties and opposition groups is boycotting the vote, because it says it will not be free and fair. The lawyer for the alliance, Hervé Malonga, said the results of the election are a foregone conclusion. Malonga says the elections are the death of democracy in Congo. He says the opposition group needs the support of the international community in dealing with the lack of democracy.
The main complaints are that President Denis Sassou-Nguesso's party controls the election process, and inaccurate lists of registered voters have not been corrected. The government denied the allegations, saying an independent commission is running the elections. The commission says it treats all candidates equally. Western diplomats said voters have little faith in the election process and had lost interest in the election. In a pact with the oil-rich country's second largest party, Sassou-Nguesso was set to strengthen his parliamentary majority.
The newe parliament was made up of 137 seats. Fifty-one seats were decided in the first round, two-thirds of them going to the ruling party and its allies. Seventy-eight more seats were decided in the run-off poll. The eight remaining seats in the Pool region, would be decided at a future date because of insecurity there.
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