On June 17, Congolese opposition leaders, including Delly Sesanga, Augustin Matata, Moïse Katumbi and Martin Fayulu, held a popular meeting at Place Sainte Thérèse in Kinshasa. This meeting aimed to discuss with the population of Kinshasa on the important issues of the nation, but above all to denounce the current electoral process.
Indeed, these leaders are not satisfied with the course of the process, which they describe as programmed “chaos”, due to the politicization of the institutions in charge of organizing the elections and the proclamation of the results, in particular the CENI and the Constitutional Court. They believe that this process evolves within a framework of fraud planning and execution.
Despite this meeting and the previous demonstrations, these Congolese opponents are still dragging their feet to support the electoral process already initiated by the CENI for the holding of elections within the constitutional deadline. They are worried that the current CENI, with all the disputes that have marred its constitution, could organize the elections in any bias.
Opponents also question the opacity of the voter identification and registration operation, the first stage of CENI operations, in which they participated. They accuse the power in place of presenting the law on the distribution of seats on the basis of an electoral file which it qualifies as corrupt, without audit by a trusted third party.
It is important to underline that the place Sainte Thérèse of N’djili is the only place where the Congolese opposition of autan had to drain the crowd. Like the Lamuka coalition, these opposition leaders have failed to rally enough people to demand the reforms they have been calling for for months.
In conclusion, it is clear that the leaders of the Congolese opposition are divided on the question of participation or non-participation in the December 2023 elections. Faced with the rapid progress of the electoral process initiated by the CENI, these opponents must find a way to come together and mobilize the popular masses to claim their rights and participate fully in the upcoming elections