They are for change or continuity, full of hope or without any illusion, but everyone, in Kinshasa the capital, Goma or Lubumbashi in the east, want to believe in elections without violence and correctly organized on Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo. .
“Tomorrow it will be calm, it is at the time of the results that there could be problems,” predicts Flory Tshimanga, 32 years old.
“Who am I going to vote for? I don’t say it, I don’t want to get beaten up,” adds the phone credit seller met by AFP on Tuesday in Kinshasa, very close to the headquarters of the Electoral Commission (Céni).
In a tense climate, nearly 44 million voters, out of around 100 million inhabitants, are called upon to elect their president, as well as their national and provincial deputies and their municipal councilors.
In the presidential election, the outgoing head of state, Félix Tshisekedi, to whom the Céni assigned 20 as his candidacy number, is seeking a second term against 18 applicants from a fragmented opposition, which was unable to succeed. agree on a common candidate to tackle this single-round election.
After a month of meetings and promises, the campaign ended at midnight on Monday. Tuesday is, officially at least, a day of “electoral silence”, of reflection and final adjustments for the organization of the quadruple ballot, a real logistical headache in the immense country of 2.3 million km2.
“We were assured that the equipment would be in the polling stations,” declares confidently Eric Ikoma, a civil servant, who wears a t-shirt bearing the image of the outgoing president under his half-buttoned shirt.
At the Kintambo Magasin roundabout, in the usual hustle and bustle of the morning, many Kinshasa residents interviewed say they are going to vote for number 20, even if, paradoxically, they want “change”.
Like Gédéon Panzu, 27, a conductor in a yellow public transport minibus called “spirit of death”. “During his first term, he was not able to do what he would have wanted, because of COVID,” believes the young man. But during the second, “he will work miracles”.
Under the watchful eye of Félix Tshisekedi supporters, Joséphine Guyguy, 59, a teacher, is not very comfortable but goes for it: she is going to vote for “number 3”.
She does not pronounce the name, but on the 3rd, it is Moïse Katumbi, the former governor of Katanga, considered the main challenger to the outgoing president. “You have to choose the best, with number 3 we have hope,” she confirms.
” May God help us “
At the other end of the country, in Lubumbashi, stronghold of Moïse Katumbi, Mulumba Kalombo, a 46-year-old street vendor, does not hesitate for a second and will vote for him. Because “Felix is ungrateful,” he says.
“Tomorrow I will vote for change, even if the results are known in advance…” declares in the same town in the mining southeast Syrile Mulaj, 67, a political scientist by training, who will not, however, give the name of the candidate of his choice. “The vote is secret,” he recalls.
As for Mélissa Feza, 53, with a degree in French language and literature, she will not vote. None of the candidates convinced her but what’s more, according to her, “it’s a facade election”. “Time wasted for me,” she blurted.
In Goma, a large city in the east of the DRC at the heart of the conflicts that have been tearing the region apart for nearly 30 years, there is great mistrust.
“May God help us, so that the one for whom we are going to vote is the one who will be proclaimed,” asks Eric Mumbere, a young unemployed 27-year-old. “There is a lot of suffering with the current president,” he said.
Whitney, a “Gaddafi” (fuel seller) met at the Instigo roundabout in the provincial capital of North Kivu, does not believe for a second in the transparency of the election. “Whether we vote for him or not, he will pass,” he says about Félix Tshisekedi.
For her part, Espérance Mazika, 50, a corn seller in the west of Goma and mother of 9 children, does not really know if she will be able to vote. As with thousands of other Congolese, his voter card has been erased.
“It’s a problem,” she simply notes, even if the Ceni assures that any Congolese registered on the electoral lists will be able to vote.