What's In Blue

Posted Thu 15 Dec 2011

Democratic Republic of the Congo Briefing

The Council will hold consultations on the post-election situation in the DRC this afternoon (Thursday, 15 December) at the request of France. The Council is likely to be briefed by Roger Meece, head of the UN stabilisation mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), via video-teleconference.

Council members have been following the DRC elections closely and were last briefed by Meece on 2 December shortly after the presidential and legislative elections took place.
Following the briefing, Council members issued a press statement which stressed the importance of maintaining a peaceful and calm environment, exercising restraint and resolving any differences through established legal and mediation mechanisms. It also urged all candidates and their supporters to refrain from acts of violence. The press statement also highlighted Council members’ concern about the logistical and technical difficulties encountered during the voting process.

Council members are likely to be interested in hearing more about the post-election situation. On 9 December, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) declared incumbent President Joseph Kabila as the winner of the 28 November presidential election with 49 percent of the votes. (The opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, received 32 percent.) The announcement of the results were followed by violent protests and opposition leaders have called for peaceful demonstrations to protest the outcome of the elections.

Council members may also have questions about reports from the EU observer mission and the Carter Centre about irregularities in the vote count as well as the loss of significant numbers of ballots. On 12 December, MONUSCO released a press statement expressing concern about the findings of these observer missions “relating to the significant irregularities in the management of the results process, in particular the counting and tabulation of the votes.”

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