Counting has begun in many voting stations in the Eastern part of the country, which is an hour ahead of Kinshasa, and the West. Radio Okapi's live service is reporting an estimated level of participation that is higher than 70% in most of the stations that have started counting.
There were apparently numerous incidents in Eastern Kasai (Kasai Oriental), stronghold of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who is boycotting the elections. In Mbuji-mayi, some stations did not START the elections until 4 PM, because the replacement ballots (their original ones were burnt by demonstrators on Saturday) did not get there until then, from Kinshasa. In Mweka (Western Kasai) and Mwene-Ditu (Eastern Kasai), a few voting stations were ransacked and/or burned, so voters there also were facing a big challenge to vote.
Last minute: Some poll workers in Kinshasa are threatening not tocount the ballots until they get paid. The head of the Electoral Commission, Abbot Appolinaire Malu Malu was just on Radio Okapi, to let them know publicly that their pay will be available on Tuesday, at every Kinshasa district halls (there are 24 districts (communes) in Kinshasa. Hopefully that will solve that.
A few links (both in English, et en Francais)
- War-battered Congo conducts historic vote - Yahoo! News
- A l'école Molière de la Gombé, tout le monde a voté
- Les Congolais ont voté en masse
- NPR : Congo Casts Ballots in Historic Democratic Election
- BBC NEWS | Africa | Congo election reporters' log: Sunday
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Dear Friend,
We would like to invite you to our special coverage of Election in Democratic Republic of Congo
Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) has been documenting human rights abuses in Democratic Republic of Congo for number of years. Please click here to find additional information about our work on Congo
(http://hrw.org/campaigns/drc/2006/katanga/slideshow.htm)
We came across your blog while searching online for blogs covering Congo. We are sending this invitation to a small group of bloggers who we thought might want to use our content to highlight human rights issues concerning people in Congo. Please let us know if you would like us to send updates about our work on a regular basis. We would be glad to add your name to our list. We hope that you will excuse us for sending one unsolicited email.
Thanking you in advance,
Lisa Okun (afr_ik2@hrw.org)
Human Rights Watch, Africa Division
Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.
I see that Lisa Okun of Human Rights Watch has stopped by your place too. Does this mean that we can publish HRW press releases and report summaries in full at our respective blogs without fear of a copyright violation? That would be great.
I am trying to figure that out, BRE. GIve me a day.
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