The Democratic Republic of Controversy: Reflecting on the Issues surrounding the 2023 Presidential Election in the Congo:

After President Felix Tshiekedi took victory in the 2023 Presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), his success has been mired in controversy after claiming almost 75% of the total votes in the election. After his victory was announced, nine of his political opponents signed a declaration renouncing the results of what they deemed to be a fraudulent election. Of these nine, the two biggest rivals to Tshiekedi, Moise Katumbi and Martin Fayulu were both included in the names of the nine who signed the declaration. The electoral process in the DRC was anything but smooth, with numerous issues seemingly presiding throughout the process of casting votes.  

Before the Congolese population even began to head to the polling stations around the country, President Tshiekedi was quoted saying “We’ll be going (to the polls) with complete confidence until there’s evidence to the contrary.” This was in response to concerns raised by oberserves over both the legitimacy and integrity behind the at the time, upcoming elections. In the weeks leading up to the election, it was estimated that roughly 44 million people were expected to register to vote, the actual figure came to roughly 41.7 million. The some 2.3 million people that went unaccounted for should not be ignored, clearly problems in the build up to the polling days had an impact on the final results. The government of the DRC was well aware of these issues prior to the election, yet little was done to remedy them. 

The 2023 elections were not the first to be scrutinised by both domestic and foreign observers alike, after the results of the 2018 election in which Tshiekedi also took victory, was shrouded in calls for a rejection of the results due suspicions of a fraudulent election process. Many in the DRC had high hopes for a smooth electoral process in the 2023 election, yet it was anything but that. 

It is likely that logistical issues were the driving factor behind the problems faced during the electoral process. The most glaring of these issues is the eastern region of the DRC that has been ongoing since the late 1990’s. After 5 years of inactivity, the infamous March 23rd Movement (M23) reared its head once more, gaining control over large parts of the North Kivu province in the east of the DRC in 2022. The M23 group is backed by the Rawandan government, allowing the group to sustain its efforts to seize power in the DRC. The strong presence of the M23 group in the east of the country has made attempts to stabalise the region very difficult for the government of the DRC. Naturally, this would only make the task of establishing the necessary infrastructure to set up polling stations in the east more arduous than in other regions of the DRC. To exacerbate this issue, the UN peacekeeping force that had operated in the east of the DRC announced that it would be ceasing operations in the region by the end of 2024. Despite this, troops began to pull out of the region as early as December of 2023 - when the Presidential election was set to take place. It is worth noting that this action came at the request from the government of the DRC for the UN task force’s failures to stabilise the region. It is estimated by observers that roughly 1.5 million citizens faced either difficulty or simply were unable to register themselves to vote due to the conflict in North Kivu. 

Conflict was not the only hindrance that the population of the DRC faced in the run up to the opening of the polling stations. The paper that was set to be used for polling cards only arrived in the capital, Kinshasa, just two weeks before the electoral process began. Given that the infrastructure in the DRC is a far cry from more developed nations in Europe for example, questions were raised about the capabilities of the DRC to distribute all of the paper approved to be used in the polling stations. This points at a failure at the most basic level of organisation from the parties responsible for ensuring that there was adequate preparation in time for the election to take place. 

Alongside the issue of the delivery of the paper to be used on the polling cards, it was revealed that the ink set to be used on the polling cards was prone to smudging. Observers feared that it may have led to a large number of votes becoming invalidated due to the issue of the ink smudging. Observers from the Carter organisation reported that a fifth of the election stations throughout the DRC were in violation of a series of offenses, particularly surrounding election materials and the registration of voters. 

Although to some extent the DRC can be forgiven for its mishandling of parts of the election process, mainly due to the logistical issues that catering to roughly 75,000 polling stations raises. However, it is more than fair to bring into question the integrity of the Tshiekedi government in regard to the setting up of the election due to the lack of organisation evident in the build up to polling stations opening. 

A combination of these issues led to violent clashes with the civillian population and the police in the country, this can be attributed to popular discontent in regard to the mishandlig of numerous factors in the build up to the election. The government is being accused of attempting to hold a fraudulent election in impunity, with the given evidence the plight of the civilians of the Congo can be well understood. Although there was far less unrest in both the build up and wake of the 2023 election in compraisson to that of the one in 2018, it is still a worrying prospect that a seemingly democratic process operates through networked individuals rather than a legitimate government agency. 

Of course, it cannot be said with complete conviction that the allegations against the DRC’s government are entirely true, given what was noted by organisations such as the Carter organisation, that there is certainly some merit in questioning the legitimacy of the results. Furthermore, corruption is not unheard of in the DRC, especially in relation to President Tshiekedi in elections. 

Throughout the criticisms of the election process in the DRC, it is clear that the nation is heading in the right direction. Despite numerous challenges such as the conflict in the east of the nation to note, a respectable effort was made to at least hold a sizable election in a country that is not renowned for its efficient infrastructure. Eyes now must face forward as President Tshiekedi, elected legitimately or not, must lead the DRC in tackling systemic issues that plague the country.