EU: Deployment of 42 Observers for Elections in DRC

In anticipation of the presidential election scheduled for December 20 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the European Union’s (EU) election observation mission plans to deploy 42 observers across the national territory starting from Monday, November 13, according to official sources.
Stéphane Mondon, a deputy and the head of the election observation mission, stated after his meeting with the president of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), Denis Kadima, that this mission would cover the Congolese territory until January 2024.
« It is essentially a mission focused on the electoral process of 2023, which will therefore span several months to monitor the entire electoral process, within the framework of an invitation we received from the Congolese authorities, » added Stéphane Mondon.
The EU election observation mission, consisting of 13 election experts and 42 long-term observers, will focus on the electoral campaign, CENI’s operations, as well as the electoral dispute resolution process. In addition, 12 short-term observers will be deployed as the election day approaches.
The National Independent Electoral Commission has already published a provisional list of candidates for the December presidential election, but this list still needs to be examined by the Constitutional Court. The final list of candidates will be published on November 18, just before the official opening of the electoral campaign.
The current president, Félix Tshisekedi, in office since January 2019, is running for a new five-year term. Among the provisional candidacies, 16 are independent, six are from political parties, and two represent political coalitions.