On Sunday, January 31st, protestors took to the streets of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to protest in opposition to the results of the recent presidential election; which saw the re-election of President Felix Tshisekedi, with a sweeping 70% of the popular vote. The result of the elections sparked outrage and demands for civil calls due to the logistical issues and tampering of the election, which caused doubt over the fairness and democratic nature of the election, and if Tshisekedi had actually won with that high of numbers. Tshieskedi’s victory was monumental despite being a controversial figure, with his main opponents being businessman Moise Katumbi who only had 18% of the votes, Martin Fayulu with 5%, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, known for treating victims of sexual violence, receiving less than 1%. The election alone saw eighteen million people voting, with Tshisekedi approximately receiving 12 million votes. Opposition parties and leaders were the main organizers of the protests, and made a joint statement encouraging Sunday’s protests, “We call on our people to take to the streets en masse after the proclamation of the electoral fraud.” In a statement from a protestor at Sunday’s event, he stated, “Tshisekedi has to go. Enough is enough. He has organized chaotic elections, we don’t want him” Another protestor followed up by saying, “He has to get out so we can organize good elections.” The results are now being slated for confirmation by the constitutional court after much demand, according to election chief Denis Kadima, who had previously released the election results.
It cannot be understated the magnitude of this election, with over 100,000 candidates running and around 70 political parties and coalitions being involved. Ballot papers, polling boxes, and voting machines were distributed at 75,000 stations around the country, spanning the size of Western Europe with few roads. The election material was taken by foot, helicopter dug out-canoes, and motorcycles. This election also marks the fourth national election since the return of multiparty democracy in 2006, where for the first time people in the country could vote, and local elections were held as well. With over seven million Congolese people being displaced in the mineral-rich land, ongoing violence, and twenty-five million people currently starving, the election became a chance for the citizens to call on their leaders and push for them to do better, with civilians waiting hours in the early mornings to be the first to vote. Despite the demands and the pressing circumstances, Tshisekedi still won and offered little reassurance to the Congolese people for positive change.
Much went wrong during the voting process, with Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of the Roman Catholic Church stating that the election process was, “A gigantic, organized disorder.” According to over five hundred local police stations in the area, many fights broke out during the voting process, with frustrated and exhausted citizens waiting for hours to get a chance to vote and not finding certain candidates they wished to vote for. Ballot stuffing and bribing also became a major issue, with machines breaking down constantly and not allowing certain individuals to vote. Videos also circulated of private voting machines and the destruction of public voting machines. The election would end up lasting five days, originally only supposed to last one day due to the amount of chaos and openly violating the electoral rules, and would lead to the election commission admitting that many of the voting machines were stolen or lost. The election would also end up costing around 1.2 billion dollars being spent, which is more than the country’s education or healthcare budget.
This is not the first time protests have been sparked from concerns about the validity of the elections, and many of the protests have also seen brutal force from Cognoese police and led to the killings and beating of protestors. On August 30th, 2023, a pro-peace protest saw the death of countless civilians at the hands of the military’s crackdown on the protest in an attempt to silence protestors. The protest was organized by a religious sector group called the Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith Towards the Nations, and made plans to protest in demands that the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission leave the region, with authorities swiftly banning the protest from occurring and warning the group to go attempt to disobey these orders. In a statement regarding the aftermath of the deadly protest, Thomas Fessy, senior Congolese researcher at Human Rights Watch stated, “For two years, the military authorities have used the ‘state of siege’ – martial law – in North Kivu province to brutally crack down on fundamental liberties.”
President Felix Tshisekedi has always been a controversial figure in the Congo’s politics, coming to power after succeeding his late father and former three-time Prime Minister of Zaire, Étienne Tshisekedi. On the day of his father’s death in the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the oldest and largest party in the country, Tshisekedi was immediately elected as the party’s head and won the presidential election in 2018, with accusations of the legitimacy of the election from opposing parties. One of the accusers and a prominent opposition leader, Martin Fayulu was heavily supported by former president President Kabila. Fayulu spearheaded the doubts over the election results and even held a case with the Constitutional Court on January 19, which would be dismissed by the court and allow Tshisekedi to take office. During his time in office, Tshisekedi has also promised to transform the country’s economy and make it the ‘Germany of Africa’. Little progress has been made to transform the Congolese economy though, and poverty remains a rampant issue, with many critics and concerned civilians questioning the true legitimacy of the democratic system.