Matata Ponyo, president of the Leadership and Governance for Development party allied to Presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi has claimed that the December 20 elections were characterised with a handful of irregularities.
In a statement released by his political party, Matata Ponyo said he was hopeful that the final results would work in their favour.
Matata also denounced the late opening of polling stations, technical problems with electronic voting devices, the misappropriation of electoral kits, the lack of machines in certain offices, political influence in certain offices, corruption and vote buying, as well as only votes without electoral cards.
“I am committed to making available the evidence in my possession on these incidents and to working in collaboration with the competent authorities with a view to a transparent and fair outcome to the voting process,” says Matata Ponyo.
Some incidents were reported in different corners of the country on Wednesday dedicated to electoral operations throughout the DRC. Machines were burned by angry people in certain voting centers.
For the centers which did not open their doors, the president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) provided clarification, affirming that the polling stations which were not able to open their doors this Wednesday as planned, have a another day this Thursday to receive voters.
The Cenco-Ecc Electoral Observation Mission unveiled its end-of-day report in the evening for the elections on Wednesday noting; Non-operational polling stations, late deployment of equipment and destruction of equipment in certain centers are among the main irregularities noted by the Moe Cenco-Ecc.
In Sankuru, Kinshasa and elsewhere, for example, some offices opened at 5 p.m. local time due to the late arrival of Electronic Voting Devices (DEV), according to this report.
At the center located at the Edap primary school in Mbandaka, in the province of Equateur, a political leader brought a DEV from his house to remedy the breakdown of a machine in this center, according to this mission of election observation. Which aroused the anger of the population who wondered how he acquired it. Several incidents of this kind were recorded in several other polling stations, causing unrest and tension.
13 DEVs were ransacked in Lubefu, in Sankuru province, as in several other centers across the country. Live ammunition and attacks by Ceni teams were also reported.
In another midday report, the Moe Cenco-Ecc asked the government to clarify its position on the delay in the opening of polling stations, which would violate the provision of article 52 of the electoral law.
This electoral observation mission also recommended that the government ensure the security of CENI agents, voting materials and the population.
