Congo-Brazzaville - 2021 - Election
The Congo Republic pressed ahead with a presidential election on 21 March 2021 with the Internet and social media sites down, the main opposition candidate gravely ill and all signs showing the incumbent, Denis Sassou Nguesso, likely to win yet another poll following a boycott by the main opposition. The 77-year-old incumbent was widely expected to win against six contenders, led by economist and 2016 presidential runner-up Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who revealed 20 March 2021 that he is gravely ill.
The Republic of the Congo (ROC) is a presidential republic in which the constitution vests most decision-making authority and political power in the president and prime minister. In 2015 the Republic of the Congo adopted a new constitution that extended the maximum number of presidential terms and years to three terms of five years and provided complete immunity to former presidents. In 2016 the Constitutional Court proclaimed the incumbent, Denis Sassou N’Guesso, the winner of the 2016 presidential election, despite opposition and international criticisms of electoral irregularities. The government last held legislative and local elections in 2017, with legislative election irregularities sufficient to restrict the ability of citizens to choose their government. While the country has a multiparty political system, members of the president’s Congolese Labor Party (PCT) and its allies retained 68 percent of legislative seats, and PCT members occupied almost all senior government positions.
Significant human rights issues included: reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government or on behalf of the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political prisoners; infringement of citizens’ privacy rights; restrictions on freedoms of peaceful assembly and association; restrictions on the ability of citizens to change their government peacefully; corruption by government officials; violence against women and girls to which government negligence significantly contributed; trafficking in persons; and forced child labor, including the worst forms.
There were reports of political prisoners and detainees, although verifiable estimates of their total number were not available. While the government claimed there were no political prisoners, human rights groups and international observers maintained the government detained or imprisoned persons solely or chiefly because of their political beliefs. There were reports government authorities entered homes without judicial or other appropriate authorization, monitored private movements, and employed informer systems.
Independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views with some restrictions. Press and media outlets regularly published criticism and satire of the government and senior officials. Most citizens obtained their news from local retransmission of international media and local radio or television stations. Many journalists and editors at larger circulation media outlets practiced self-censorship and promoted the editorial views of media owners. Newspapers published open letters written by government opponents.
Voting began at a polling station in the capital Brazzaville shortly after 7am local time, according to witnesses. Access to the Internet and social media was cut hours before polls opened, with the watchdog group NetBlocks reporting an Internet blackout that began in the Central African country around midnight on election day. UN and EU observers were not invited to monitor the election, and the interior ministry refused to allow the Catholic Church's 1,100 observers to take part. Congo's Catholic Church episcopal conference has already expressed "serious reservations" about the ballot's transparency.
Sassou Nguesso, a former paratrooper, first rose to power in the Congo Republic in 1979 and has since accumulated 36 years in office, making him one of the world's longest-serving leaders. He is widely expected to win a fourth term in office despite an ongoing economic crisis and accusations of having mismanaged the country's oil revenues.
A day before polls opened, Kolelas, 66, the main opposition challenger, posted a video message online showing himself in a sickbed, declaring he was "battling against death" after taking off a respiratory mask. "Rise up as one person... I'm fighting on my deathbed, you too fight for your change," he urged supporters, saying the election was "about the future of your children" before replacing his mask. Campaign spokesman Cyr Mayanda told the Associated Press on Sunday that Kolelas's condition was stable, but that plans were underway for a medical evacuation to France for further treatment.
The largest opposition group, the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy or UPADS, boycotted the poll. UPADS – the group of former president Pascal Lissouba, who died in France last August – is the only opposition party to have a parliamentary group in the current national assembly. Flanked by its giant neighbour the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, the former French colony has oil reserves and most of its budget comes from petroleum revenue. But its economy is in a slump, hurt by a collapse in world crude oil prices, long-standing debt, and the pandemic, as well as being saddled with a reputation for corruption.
On the campaign trail, Sassou Nguesso focused on agricultural development and portrayed himself as a defender of Congo's youth – the average age of the population of five million is just 19, according to UN figures. After first coming to power in 1979, Sassou Nguesso was forced to introduce multi-party elections in 1991 and was defeated at the ballot box a year later. But he returned to power in 1997 following a prolonged civil war. He has won every election since, which the opposition have mostly slammed as fraudulent. A constitutional amendment in 2015, which ended a ban on presidential candidates aged over 70 and scrapped a two-term limit, allowed Sassou Nguesso to run again a year later.
Two rivals who contested the 2016 results – former army general Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and ex-minister Andre Okombi Salissa – were later jailed for 20 years, effectively sidelining the opposition.
The Republic of Congo's main opposition candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas died as he was being transferred to France for treatment for Covid-19, a day after presidential elections were held. Kolelas "died in the medical aircraft which came to get him from Brazzaville on Sunday afternoon", said Christian Cyr Rodrigue Mayanda. Kolelas was being evacuated to France for treatment when he died. He first tested positive for Covid-19 on 19 March 2021 and fell seriously ill. He spent election day in hospital. In a video that circulated on social media, 61-year-old Kolelas, who was diabetic, could be seen briefly removing an oxygen mask to tell his supporters that he is "fighting death".
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