(Brazzaville) The legislative and local elections organized on Sunday in Congo hardly mobilized the voters, called for a boycott by certain opponents and convinced that the party in power was going to maintain its stranglehold on the two chambers of Parliament, noted journalists from the AFP.
Posted at 3:02 p.m.
In office number 1 of the Nganga Edouard school, in the center of Brazzaville, barely 100 voters out of 680 registered voters had slipped their ballot into the ballot box at the close of the vote, fixed for 6 p.m. (1 p.m., Montreal time ).
In an office of the Nkeoua Joseph school, in the first constituency of Bacongo (second arrondissement of the capital), only 176 had come to vote, out of 986 registered. In Gamboma, in the center of the country, officials said they had registered 138 voters out of 500 registered voters.
“I came to fulfill my duty because I love my country. But most of all I need change. I am 61 years old, and I have never had a job”, testified in the early morning Francine Nkounkou, met in a polling station in Bacongo.
The Congolese Labor Party (PCT), a formation of President Denis Sassou Nguesso (79 years old, including 38 at the head of the country), has 101 elected members (out of a total of 151) in the outgoing Assembly. He fielded 127 competitors and intends to maintain his hold.
Facing the PCT, the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS, the first opposition party) lined up 45 candidates for the legislative elections, against 32 for the Union of Humanist Democrats (UDH-Yuki) of the late opponent Guy-Brice Parfait Kolélas .
The Federation and the Collective of the Congolese opposition, led respectively by Clément Miérassa and the former Minister of Finance Mathias Dzon, had chosen to boycott the vote.
“All these elections are organized in total disrespect of the law. Rather, we want an inclusive dialogue to discuss real issues in the Congo and the release of political opponents,” Miérassa told AFP recently.
“What does a party that excludes itself from the democratic process expect? wondered Sunday Denis Sassou Nguesso, who voted at midday in the fifth arrondissement of Brazzaville. “We are on the right track,” he assured, welcoming a calm vote, also noted by observers sent by the African Union and ECCAS (Economic Community of Central African States).
According to the electoral commission, the first results, as well as the turnout, could be known on Tuesday.
A second round must take place for the legislative elections, but its date has not yet been announced.