The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) on 21 August 2016 announced that presidential elections in the country will be delay until at least July 2017.
CENI chairperson Corneille Nangaa cited financial constraints and delays in voter registration as the major factors behind the postponement.
This announcement effectively means that incumbent President Joseph Kabila will extend his tenure beyond the constitutional two terms which expires in December this year.
Nangaa informed political party representatives that voters’ registration which should enrol some 30 million voters that started in March was expected to be completed in 16 months.
“The issue before us today in Congo is how to reconcile the electoral cycle … with the technical constraints we face,” he said.
This revelation has however been met by different reactions from various quarters. According to his opponents, Kabila is seeking to extend his term in office by postponing the polls.
The Constitutional Court had ruled that if the DRC fails to organise elections later this year, the incumbent Kabila could stay on as president. Even though he has yet to make known any ambitions to run for an ‘unconstitutional’ third term, there has been pressure from home and abroad calling on him to step down at the end of his tenure.
Kabila has ruled the country for the past 15 years following the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila.
With AfricaNews