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Bloomberg
A major opposition coalition in the Democratic Republic of Congo condemned a week-long postponement of presidential and parliamentary elections, saying it won’t tolerate any further delays.
The Cap pour le Changement alliance supporting the presidential bid of Felix Tshisekedi “will not accept another delay of even one day,†Jean-Marc Kabund, a senior official in the coalition, told reporters and supporters in the capital, Kinshasa.
The central African nation’s electoral commission pushed back the elections from December 23 to 30, blaming a fire at one of its warehouses which destroyed voting material destined for Kinshasa’s polling stations. Elections were initially due in 2016 but not organised on time, allowing outgoing President Joseph Kabila to remain in office beyond the end of his second term, the maximum permitted by Congo’s constitution.
The alliance is “convinced that Joseph Kabila has never had the least will to allow the organisation of free, democratic and transparent elections,†Kabund said. The copper- and cobalt-rich can nation hasn’t had a democratic transfer of power since it gained independence in 1960.