AFRICA/CONGO DR - Religious leaders create a Guarantee Commission to monitor the next election

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - An Integrity Commission and Electoral Mediation (CIME) to ensure peaceful, free and transparent elections, was announced by the religious leaders in Kinshasa at the end of a four-day seminar organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on leadership training and conflict prevention.
"We need to ensure the integrity of the electoral process right from the beginning, during and after the vote in order to avoid elections which are not prepared well to develop into conflict and for them to escalate into violence", said Rev. Elebe Kapalay Delphin of the Kimbanguiste Church, coordinator of the newly formed commission made up of 16 members.
Don Apollinaire Malumalu, Catholic priest and President of INEC, praised the initiative and said he was certain that the electoral commission will accompany the long electoral process. Elections are scheduled between 2015 and 2016 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to renew the provincial bodies, the two Houses of Parliament and to elect a new Head of State. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/05/2014)