United Nations Security Council votes on draft resolution to extend the mandate of the UN stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for another year, UN HQ,New York. March 27, 2018. Li Muzi/Press Association. All rights reserved.As a fresh wave of civil unrest engulfs the Democratic Republic of Congo, the nation’s government unveiled late last month a new electronic voting machine which it claims will be instrumental in carrying out this year’s presidential elections, booked in for December 23.
However, critics fear that incumbent president Joseph Kabila – whose term was officially over in November 2016 and who had promised to hold elections late last year – is simply using the machines as a ruse to further delay votes, with the ultimate goal of maintaining power indefinitely.
Against the backdrop of increasingly violent and vocal civil unrest, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) introduced domestic and international journalists to a new electronic voting machine, which it maintains is indispensable to meeting its target of the December 23 elections.
