CONGO
Fire But No Smoke
Election officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo said the presidential vote would go ahead as scheduled on Dec. 23, despite a fire that destroyed thousands of voting machines in the capital of Kinshasa.
The national electoral commission (CENI) said in a statement the blaze had destroyed 8,000 of 10,368 voting machines due to be used in the city, Reuters reported. The fire started about 2 a.m. Thursday in the Gombe riverside area of Kinshasa that is also home to President Joseph Kabila’s residence.
The ruling coalition and the main opposition candidate blamed each other for the blaze, though several opposition candidates had called for the voting machines to be banned, arguing they could be used to rig the vote, the BBC reported.
Kabila’s mandate ended in 2016 and term limits prevent him from contesting again, but he has clung onto power through repeated delays. Now that elections finally look imminent, he is backing his former Interior Minister, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. A tight race is expected among Shadary, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi and business tycoon Martin Fayulu Madidi.
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