Two candidates vying for parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s general election, to be held December 20 were slain in separate violent incidents on Friday. This was as a rights group revealed in a report on Saturday that electoral violence had a chance of undermining votes.
A South Kivu province candidate for the ruling coalition in the eastern Congo area was killed by unidentified gunmen while he was coming back from a campaign event on Friday evening, according to a report by a regional government official.
The report also revealed that another ruling coalition candidate in Beni, in the North Kivu province, had died from bullet wounds late on Friday night after his campaign convoy was attacked.
The violence aside, opposition parties and independent observers have issued warnings, saying that matters including obscure voter cards, blocked campaign planes and electoral list procrastinations endanger the legitimacy of the results.
Human Rights Watch had said that the violence was coming from both the supporters and opposition parties, and the violence didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.
