Brussels, 22/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - In the opinion of the European Union, the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are not honouring the commitments taken in 2002 to improve the governance of future elections and the respect of fundamental freedoms.
On Friday 19 February, the staff of High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini expressed their concern that this would affect the credibility of the presidential elections on 20 March.
“Despite these commitments, the reforms introduced by the electoral law of 23 January seem limited. They do not take sufficient account of the recommendations of the EU election observation mission of 2002”, Mogherini's spokesperson stated.
Due to their lack of transparency, the EU believes that “the amendments that have been made can furthermore lead to legal uncertainty and do not seem suitable for ensuring the democratic, inclusive and transparent nature of the early presidential elections on 20 March 2016”. There is also the fact that “bringing the elections forward by three months will not allow for substantial improvement of the electoral roll - the quality of which is lacking and risks affecting the credibility of the results of the vote”.
The EU underlines the importance of applying the new electoral law and related decrees, as well as the full participation of the opposition and independent civil society within the independent national electoral commission.
The EU also states that it “remains concerned for the outcome of the members and supporters of the political parties who are, awaiting trial”. For all these reasons, the EU considers that the “current context does not enable plans to be made” to send an EU election observation mission for the election on 20 March.
In a press release, the African Union, United Nations, European Union and International Organisation of la Francophonie recently stated that they are ready to support the Congolese actors to consolidate democracy in their country in this decisive election year. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)