Election experts have slammed the Democratic Republic of Congo’s decision to block election observers in their ongoing election process.
The East African Community (EAC) will not observe the general polls in DRC today after the DRC secretariat said in a statement that DRC authorities declined their application to have an observer mission in the country.
A treaty establishing the East African Community provides for observing elections and has been the practice since the inception of the bloc, which DRC was admitted into in 2022.
Speaking to KFM, Crispin Kaheru, an election observer says that although it is not mandatory for countries to have observers, direct refusal shows a country’s inability to conduct transparent elections.
“There are likely to be questions surrounding the transparency of the process but it also somehow compromises the trust in the process. I think observing elections is generally a good practice that should always be emulated by different societies and communities that are going for elections,” he told KFM.
Meanwhile, Mr Henry Muguzi, the executive director of the Alliance for Finance Monitoring (ACFIM) and overall coordinator for the African Election Observers Network notes that Congolese citizens need to be more watchful in the ongoing elections to ensure their rightful choices of leaders are respected.
President Félix Tshisekedi Tshilombo is running for his second, and constitutionally, last term against Martin Fayulu, Moïse Katumbi, and Denis Mukwege the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
