Congo Election Body Proposes Two-Year Wait for Presidential Vote
- Number of voters not known, electoral commission deputy says
- Commission confirms for first time vote delayed until 2018
Opposition supporters pose during a rally organised by political opposition parties in Kinshasa, on July 31, 2016.
Photographer: Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral authority said presidential elections will be delayed until 2018, angering opposition leaders who are demanding President Joseph Kabila step down this year.
The commission “hasn’t called elections in 2016 because the number of voters isn’t known,” Norbert Basengezi Katintima, vice president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, known by its French acronym CENI, told reporters Thursday in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria. Voter registration has started in some parts of the country, and the commission will update the voter list in July 2017, he said.