The independent national electoral commission has refused to accede to the demands of radical opponents after consulting them at the end of June, five months before the general elections in the DRC. The plenary of the CENI has deemed the request to audit the electoral register again “without solid reason” as “illogical”. The opposition has suspected fictitious names and minors in the file, which lists around 44 million voters.
For the CENI, apart from challenging the composition of the external audit mission, “no serious argument has come to contradict the conclusions” of the audit already carried out. The plenary thus finds it “illogical to undertake” a new audit. This operation, if carried out, would risk distancing the CENI from its priorities, in particular organizing the elections on December 20th, according to the press release. The opponents had wanted this control to be done at the same time as other activities, without postponing the polls.
The CENI declined to respond to the census of voters in areas plagued by violence, the overhaul of the composition of the CENI, or the review of the electoral law. The CENI asserted that the electoral law, which mandated the display of the electoral lists 30 days before the start of the electoral campaign, had already addressed the concern about the credibility of the electoral lists.
One of the five opposition figures consulted by the president of the institution reacts by affirming that “it is an act of rebellion” signed by the CENI.