Official: Congo poll says vote will be problematic

A senior UN official today acknowledged that the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s presidential and parliamentary elections this weekend would be problematic.

Ross Mountain, the UN’s resident co-ordinator in the DRC said this was down to the logistics involved in ensuring over 25 million registered voters have the chance to cast their ballots in the African nation’s first election since declaring independence in 1960.

“It will not be perfect … there will be problems,” he told reporters via a video link from the capital city Kinshasa.

Mountain said despite the violence during a campaign rally on the second last day of campaigning in Kinshasa yesterday, which reportedly killed up to seven people, the campaign was closing on a high note.

He said the violence could have erupted into more widespread battles between opposing party supporters, but said it was contained.

“Many people perhaps see this with alarm as the unravelling of the whole process, it is anything but,” Mountain said.

“We were tested … and I believe the Congolese authorities and the Congolese leaders came through that test.”