Prior to the December 20th presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a number of candidates—including Denis Mukwege, Martin Fayulu, and Theodore Ngoy—have declared their intention to sue the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) for allegedly failing to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.
Theodore Ngoy, a presidential candidate, raised concerns about the legitimacy of the voters’ cards, stating that 80% of them are illegible due to being printed on thermal paper.
He suggested that voters were deliberately provided with cards that had erasable prints, raising questions about the integrity of the election process.
With 25 candidates running for president and a month-long election campaign underway, the political climate in the DRC remains tense.
The country, with almost 100 million people, is set to witness a crucial election where around 44 million registered voters will cast their ballots. In addition to choosing a new president, voters will decide on tens of thousands of candidates for legislative and local bodies.
