The European Union has announced that it was calling off its plans to send an election observation mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the upcoming general elections because of the inability to safely deploy personnel across the nation on December 20.
On Wednesday, a statement from the EU revealed that the election observation mission for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had been cancelled, due to technical difficulties beyond their control.
The EU mission reported that their original plan to send out long-term observers to numerous provinces throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo was no longer feasible.
Recall that on Tuesday, Nabila Massrali, a spokesperson for the European Union, informed Reuters that the election observers had been sent across the Congo on November 21, yet their deployment had not occurred due to safety concerns.
In the lead-up to the presidential, legislative and regional elections in Africa’s second-largest country, there is a high degree of tension, mounting in the nation.
Contestants running against the ruling coalition have expressed worries over the integrity of the election, noting the reported inconsistencies in the voter registration process that are alleged to be in the ruling coalition’s favour. The electoral commission has since rejected these claims.
When it came time to deploy long-distance observers, the authorities raised a number of issues concerning the use of satellite equipment and proceeded to put forward other stipulations, making it hard for the observers to work without risk and autonomy away from Kinshasa, at least, according to a comment by a European diplomat who pleaded anonymity.
The European Union expressed that it was looking into other solutions with the Congolese government, including the option of keeping a team of electoral specialists to monitor the electoral process from Kinshasa.
