DR Congo sets election date after protests
Election officials announced the date after violent protests erupted last month over fears that President Joseph Kabila was trying to delay polls.
The government denied the claim, and dropped plans for a controversial census to be held before elections.
Mr Kabila is constitutionally barred from contesting the poll.
He took power in 2001 after his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated.
He has won two disputed elections since then, and cannot stand for a third elected term.
Angry protesters accused the president of trying to cling to powerBoth the presidential and parliamentary elections would take place on 27 November 2016, election commission official Jean-Pierre Kalamba said in the capital, Kinshasa.
At least 42 people died in the protests in Kinshasa and other cities last month.
The demonstrators wanted to block parliament from adopting a new electoral law which would have required that a national census be held before elections.
The opposition said the plan amounted to a “constitutional coup” by Mr Kabila, as it would have taken about three years for a census to be conducted in DR Congo, which is two-thirds of the size of western Europe, has very little infrastructure and is hit by instability in the east.
Source BBC
https://inyenyerinews.info/human-rights/dr-congo-sets-election-date-after-protests/AFRICADEMOCRACY & FREEDOMSHUMAN RIGHTSLATEST NEWSMr Kabila is constitutionally barred from running for office again The Democratic republic of Congo will hold presidential elections in November 2016, satisfying a key demand of the opposition. Election officials announced the date after violent protests erupted last month over fears that President Joseph Kabila was trying to delay polls. The...Placide KayitareNoble Mararakayitare@gmail.comAdministratorINYENYERI NEWS
