Image: Africanews
Thousands of Congoloese citizens took to the streets of Kinshasa the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo to demand a neutral poll body after President Felix Tshisekedi installed a close friend to head the electoral commission.
Tshisekedi’s move last month came despite the objection of both Catholic and Protestant religious leaders and the opposition. The opposition claims Denis Kadima, the new head of the National Independent Electoral Commission, is corrupt and has a strong affiliation with the president. A protester said they would not give chance to what he calls as electoral fraud. Some protesters called for the return of former president Joseph Kabila, who ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo for 18 years before Tshisekedi came to power in January 2019. A member of the Catholic Lay Coordinating Committee Hervé Diakiese, says the country would not allow the elections to me barred. The next presidential election is set for December 2023, and Tshisekedi has said he intends to run despite allegations of fraud levelled against him during the 2018 polls.