{The Senate in the Democratic Republic of Congo is set to hold an extraordinary session Tuesday to debate how to organise the country\u2019s first-ever local elections. But a united opposition is boycotting the session, arguing that the draft legislation is part of President Joseph Kabila\u2019s strategy to hang on to power when his second term expires next year.}<\/p>\n
\u201cThis law must be promulgated for the elections to be effectively coupled,\u201d PPRD spokesperson Ramazani Shadari told RFI in an interview. \u201cThat is why we want the law to be adopted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concretely, the ruling PPRD wants voters to designate local officials before any other polls are held \u2013 a deeply divisive issue because the opposition believes voters should first choose a new president when Kabila\u2019s second five-year term expires in 2016.<\/p>\n
From the government\u2019s perspective, a bill on seat allocation in local, communal and municipal constituencies must be enacted before local polls, scheduled for October, are held.<\/p>\n
There are fears that local polls, a time-consuming and costly process in a country where none have never been held, will delay the presidential polls, allowing Kabila to stay in office.<\/p>\n
The contentious bill has already been the subject of legislative jostling. Last month the National Assembly voted it down before giving it the green light. Earlier this month the Senate rejected it in an extraordinary session and Tuesday\u2019s second extraordinary session — whose legitimacy is challenged by the opposition — is a sign of the government\u2019s determination to hold local elections first.<\/p>\n
There are fears that the parliamentary debate could have an impact on all polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this keeps going on all the elections are going to have to be postponed,\u201d explained Michael Tshibangu, president of the London-based Alliance for Development and Democracy in Congo.<\/p>\n
The legislation, already months behind schedule, should have been voted into law by April under an Independent National Electoral Commission calendar.<\/p>\n
Delays and foot-dragging could lead to a constitutional crisis, according to lawmaker Aim\u00e9 Boji, a member of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), a leading opposition party.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur constitution is very clear on the presidential term,\u201d he said in a phone interview from Kinshasa. \u201cIt is the only election for which an actual date is set by the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opposition is convinced that this focus on local politics is a ploy by Kabila, in power since 2001, to extend his rule.<\/p>\n
Kabila who rarely speaks in public has so far rejected opposition demands to state that he will step down when his term ends next year.<\/p>\n
His alleged playing-for-time strategy, called glissement (sliding or slipping), also rests on the tying up of the electoral process in bureaucratic delays.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlissement is simply what many Congolese politicians do best, which is: delay decisions,\u201d remarked Jason Stearns, director of New York University\u2019s Congo Research Group.<\/p>\n
The ruling party\u2019s bid \u2013 unpopular in many circles — had led the parliamentary opposition to unite under an umbrella group known as Dynamique pour l\u2019unit\u00e9 d\u2019actions de l\u2019opposition, or dynamic for unified action by the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opposition has come together against the machinations of the current regime,\u201d noted Kambale Musavuli, spokesperson for Friends of the Congo, a Chicago-based advocacy group. \u201cHaving them take a bold stand gives more hope to the people on the ground.<\/p>\n
Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mend\u00e9 has rejected charges that the government is promoting glissement, which he has dismissed as an \u201cunfair accusation\u201d (proc\u00e8s d\u2019intention).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that the [electoral] commission has drawn up a calendar that will be respected,\u201d he told the press last week.<\/p>\n
There had earlier been speculation that Kabila \u2013 like other sitting presidents in Africa — would change the constitution to allow him to stand for a third term.<\/p>\n
But the idea generated strong opposition at home and abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose test balloons were met with so much resistance from local civil society, the Catholic Church and the international community that he retreated,\u201d analyst Stearns said in an interview from New York. \u201cNow other options are being put on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
A more significant, behind-the-scene succession battle may be taking place within the ruling coalition.<\/p>\n
{{Source: RFI}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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