AFRICA/D. R. CONGO - Despite some protests electoral campaign for presidential and political elections gets underway

Wednesday, 5 July 2006

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)- “The 30 day electoral campaign is officially open” declared the president of the Electoral Commission, a Catholic priest, Rev. Apollinaire Malumalu. There are 33 candidates for presidency and 9,780 people wanting one of the 500 seats at the National Assembly.
However 19 presidential candidates have already dencounced irregularities and called for the campaign to stop. “We want the campaign to stop and the protested irregularities solved” said one of the candidates Gérard Kamanda Wa Kamanda, Research Minister of the present transition government. Among the irregularities, 5 million more ballots than necessary, registration of tens of thousands of foreign citizens on voting lists, localisation in a European country of the Independent Electoral Commission central computer and the fact that the electoral lists have not been made public.
However so far, on the quiet, the electoral campaign continues. Only outgoing President Joseph Kabila, and three of his vice presidents have recourse to electoral TV commercials.
Presidential and political elections on 30 July should mark the end of a long transition process started in 2002. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 5/7/2006 righe 22 parole 217)


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