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DR Congo towns vote in polls delayed by conflict, Ebola
BENI, DR Congo, March 31, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Voters in Beni and Butembo, towns
in northeastern DR Congo ravaged by conflict and an Ebola epidemic, took part
in long-delayed elections on Sunday.
Parliamentary and municipal polls also took place in the western Yumbi
region some 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of the capital Kinshasa, where a
massacre in December claimed at least 535 civilian lives.
All three are opposition strongholds in the vast central African country,
with a combined electorate of around one million.
Voting was proceeding smoothly in the Mavivi and Ngadi districts of Beni
that have seen frequent unrest involving armed militias, according to an AFP
correspondent on the ground.
At stake are 15 seats in DR Congo’s lower house of parliament, which counts
500 lawmakers.
But they are not eligible to vote in the presidential election, three
months after veteran opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi won that vote, the
country’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in
1960.
Nor with the vote will have any impact on the balance of power in
parliament, where the party of former president Joseph Kabila won a
commanding majority of seats.
Tshisekedi’s party is working to put together a coalition government with
Kabila’s.
The formation of the new government is being closely watched for signs that
Kabila will continue to hold sway in the nation’s politics, if many top
cabinet posts are filled by his supporters.
The polling follows an uptick in cases of Ebola in recent days after a lull
of several weeks. The epidemic, which broke out in August, has so far killed
more than 650 people.
BSS/AFP/RY/20:15 hrs