2023-12-20 04:25:56
Forty-four million voters go to the polls to elect their President of the Republic, their national and provincial deputies, as well as their municipal councilors. The outgoing head of state, Félix Tshisekedi, is seeking a second term. At the end of a tough campaign marked by major logistical problems, follow the voting progress live with France 24.
Published on: 12/20/2023 – 05:25
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After a month of meetings and promises, the campaign ended Monday December 18 at midnight. A day of “electoral silence” was observed the next day in this continent-country of 102 million inhabitants in order to transport the electoral materials necessary for the election to the four corners of the country, which extends over 2.2 million km2. smooth running of the vote.
While the 2018 elections resulted in the first democratic change in the country’s history, those of 2023 are a test for Congolese democracy.
Read alsoPresidential election in DR Congo: transparency, key to trust
The first of the 75,000 polling stations opened their doors at 6 a.m. local time (5 a.m. Paris time) and voters will be able to present themselves there, in principle, until 5 p.m. local time. For the first time since the country’s independence, the Congolese diaspora will be able to vote.
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6:40 a.m.: (Re)see – the Journal de l’Afrique, our special edition in DR Congo
On the eve of the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Africa newspaper France 24 recorded a special broadcast from Kinshasa on the functioning and challenges of the quadruple ballot.
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6:38 a.m.: several election observation missions deployed
In total, nearly 44 million registered voters, out of a total of around 100 million inhabitants, are called upon to elect their president, but also their national and provincial deputies and, for the first time, their municipal councilors.
More than 100,000 candidates are in the running for the four ballots. The president of the Céni, Denis Kadima, promised Tuesday evening the “transparency” of the process, with “real-time” monitoring of the compilation of the results.
Several election observation missions are deployed. With 25,000 people, that of the Catholic and Protestant churches is the largest and its opinions and conclusions are traditionally closely followed. Its organizers promised Tuesday a “parallel count” for the presidential election.
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5:09 a.m.: a first voter slips his ballot into the ballot box
A first voter was seen placing his ballot in the ballot box at 6:09 a.m. (5:09 a.m. Paris time) in an office in Kisangani, in the east of the country which, an hour ahead of the west, starts voting first.
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