Congo’s electoral commission has announced that the long awaited presidential election which will see President Joseph Kabila replaced, has be scheduled to hold on December 23, 2018.
The election reslts will be published on January 9, 2019 and the President sworn in on January 13. Currently, about 43 million eligible voters have been registered for the vote.
The election which was scheduled for 2016 has been delayed continuously amid unrest in the region.
The delays had further increased unrest and fears of renewed conflict which killing millions, mostly from hunger and diseases.
Last month, the electoral commission had announced that the elections will not hold till April 2019 as the opposition group warned that the citizens might take law into their own hands.
“The predatory regime wants to prolong the instability and misery of the people. We do not accept this fantasy calendar,” exiled opposition leader Moise Katumbi said in a tweet.
Following Joseph Kabila refusal to step down and relinquish power at the end of his tenure last December, a large number of people had died in series of protests with increasing militia violence fuelling the political crisis.
President Kabila has being in power since 2001 after his father was assassinated. He attributed the delay of the elections to registration of millions of voters across the nation.
Meanwhile, U.S. envoy Nikki Haley in a visit to President Kabila last month, said for the election not to lose International support, it must be conducted in 2018.
