Der har været frygt for, at uroligheder, snyd og logistiske mareridt ville ødelægge mulighederne for, at det første frie og demokratiske valg i DR Congo i 46 år blev en succes.
Men dagen efter søndagens kombinerede præsident- og parlamentsvalg kalder FNs repræsentanter nu valget for ”et lille mirakel”, skriver UNDPs Nordiske kontor i en pressemelding tirsdag
– Jeg er lettet og lykkelig, fordi det hele forløb endnu bedre, end vi kunne have håbet på, siger Ross Mountain, der er chef for FNs Udviklingsprogram (UNDP) i DR Congo og assisterende særlig rådgiver for FNs generalsekretær, Kofi Annan.
– Rapporterne fra hele landet er gode og beretter om massivt vælgerfremmøde i både hovedstaden Kinshasa og resten af landet. Dette er en stor bedrift af det congolesiske folk. Det er en historisk dag for deres land, som de har grund til at være stolte over, føjer han til.
Her den originale pressemelding fra UNDP på engelsk
LANDMARK ELECTIONS IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO TAKE PLACE AMID SUPRISING CALM – UN Welcomes Successful Polls as Vote Counting Begins
Kinshasa, 31 July: Despite fears that unrest, irregularities and logistical challenges would taint the Democratic Republic of Congos first competitive national elections in 40 years, UN officials here have dubbed polling day Sunday a “small miracle”.
– I am relieved and delighted because things went even better than we could have hoped, said Ross Mountain, Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary-General and Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the DR Congo.
– Reports are good across the DR Congo with massive turnout in Kinshasa and throughout the country. It is an achievement for the Congolese people. It is a historic day for their country and they should be very proud, added he.
The polls were organized by the DR Congos Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) with support from MONUC – the UN Mission in the DR Congo – and UNDP.
Polls reportedly opened as scheduled at 6 a.m. in most locations. Voters in line by the 5 p.m. official closing of the polling stations were allowed to cast their ballots into the night. In order to ensure the transparency of the polls, 347.000 witnesses for candidates were stationed at polling sites and will monitor vote compilation.
Some 1.700 international observers traveled to DR Congo for the election and 35.000 nationals observed the Sunday polls.
In Kinshasa, the DR Congo capital, where the large number of candidates – more than 750 –for the National Assembly required the IEC to print a poster-sized six-page ballot, ballot boxes filled quickly and additional boxes had to be dispatched.
On the eve of the polls, additional boxes were flown in from Johannesburg with the assistance of the South African government, which had also covered costs related to the ballot paper and transportation to fourteen hubs (centre) in the DR Congo. The overall situation in the capital remained calm throughout the day.
In the vast countrys Eastern region, which had been plagued with continuing unrest stemming from the civil war, North Kivu province reported high voter turnout. A handful of polling stations there remained closed because election supplies had not been delivered on time.
For its part, Kasai Occidental experienced marked tensions on Sunday. Fifty two polling stations and numerous ballots and electoral supplies were burned in separate arson incidents. In response to these events, on election day morning, the IEC deployed a plane carrying replacement materials to the region.
The concerned polling stations in the province were opened today for a second day of voting. In the commune of Mbandaka in Equateur province, tensions erupted when 2.000 voters who had registered in other areas were turned away from polling stations.
The IEC faced a mammoth task as it prepared for election day. In this war-weary country the size of Western Europe with few functioning roads or infrastructure, it arranged for the printing and transportation of more than 30 million ballots to accommodate the 25,7 million registered Congolese voters.
It opened 49.746 polling stations on Sunday to allow voters to make their choice from among 33 presidential candidates and to select representatives for the former Belgian colonys 500-seat National Assembly.
Provisional results of the presidential contest in Africas third largest country are expected to be announced by 20 August, following a time-consuming vote counting process which will feed data from far flung communities to a mainframe computer in the IECs Kinshasa office.
If a clear winner does not emerge with more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round election will be held on 29 October.
Few Congolese have ever participated in a democratic election. The polls are an important step in a peace process designed to end a five-year civil war in the country, which affected six neighboring countries and killed some four million people.
Unrest continued in some of the countrys eastern provinces until last week, when a major rebel group in Ituri agreed to lay down its arms in a MONUC-brokered deal.
IEC head Malu Malu said that the elections were a success, with early estimates pointing to 80 percent voter turnout nationally. – I want to thank the Congolese people and the international community for supporting Congo in this great endeavor, he said.
The polls represent the largest and most complex UN electoral assistance mission ever undertaken, a 432 million US dollar joint effort of MONUC and UNDP, largely funded by the European Commission as well as other donors.
Through its Electoral Assistance Programme, UNDP helped the Congolese distribute ballots and essential equipment to polling stations across the country. The programme has provided vital technical and logistical support for the IEC, such as design of ballots, procurement of election materials and the training of elections personnel.
An estimated 270 million dollar was invested in voter registration and other preparations, including civic education. On 1 August, UNDP will begin paying 260.000 electoral workers, 12.000 polling station supervisors and 73.000 policemen, as part of a UNDP companion project which helped guarantee security throughout the electoral process.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked donors for an additional 46 million dollar urgently needed to secure an eventual second round of national elections and provincial polls.
According to Ross Mountain, the new government will face a number of urgent challenges, including reconciliation, tackling a culture of impunity, re-organization of the countrys army, and curbing mismanagement of the DR Congos vast natural resources – from oil and diamonds to gold, silver and uranium – so that they can benefit the Congolese people.
What is more, the new government will have to face an on-going humanitarian crisis which every day sees 1.200 people die who could have lived, due to poverty, disease, malnutrition, lack of access to clean water, and violence.
– These elections are a very important beginning for Congo, said Babacar Cissé, UNDP Country Director, concluding:
– Democracy is more than going to the polls. What the Congolese need is an intense reconstruction effort which includes as focus on health care, schools and clean water and job creation.
Flere oplysninger hos kommunikationsmedarbejder på UNDPs nordiske kontor Kristian Sloth, tlf: 35 46 71 58 eller 30 54 34 86, e-mail: [email protected]
For kommentarer kontakt UNDPs nordiske kontors svenske medarbejder i DR Congo Klas Waldenström, tlf 00243 (0)81-2141013
