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CONGO-RESULTS Aug-16-2006 (580 words) xxxi
Congolese bishops urge calm while votes are counted
By Evan Weinberger
Catholic News Service
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNS) -- As vote counting from the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo moves forward, the Congolese bishops asked candidates to accept the results.
The bishops urged people not to resort to violence if they are unhappy with the results and expressed concern over reports of vote-counting problems.
"Free, transparent and democratic elections are the (people's) voice and necessary for winning political power," the bishops said in an Aug. 12 statement. "Only people freely elected by the primary sovereigns (the people) are legitimately authorized to govern the state during the next meeting of the legislature."
With rumors flying around the country about irregularities and which candidate was winning, the Congolese bishops insisted that guaranteeing the poll's legitimacy was required to keep the peace.
"Across the country, some attempts at manipulation, cheating and fraud have been found. Because of this, ensuring the credibility of the elections is vital," they said.
Since the July 30 presidential and parliamentary elections, several reports of vote rigging, vote buying and problems with the counting process have surfaced. Six election workers appeared in a court in Kinshasa, Congo's capital, Aug. 10 on charges of vote rigging. Fifteen of the more than 30 candidates who stood for the presidency have called the counting process into question, according to news agencies in Kinshasa.
The Independent Electoral Commission, headed by Father Muholongu Malumalu, a Catholic priest, has acknowledged the problems, but election observers say problems were small compared to the total votes counted. More than 25 million people registered to vote at more than 50,000 polling stations in the country. The turnout was high, according to reports.
"They're still saying that the overall process and the way that it happened, and even the counting, were all credible and they can go forward with it," said Dorothy Madison-Seck, regional director of the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services' Central Africa programs, in a telephone interview from Kinshasa Aug. 16.
The elections were the first in Congo in more than 40 years as part of a peace accord ending six years of civil war that claimed the lives of more than 4 million people through violence, disease and poverty. One of the most powerful voices in calling for the protection of human rights during the war and before the elections was the church. More than 50 percent of the Congolese population is Catholic.
Preliminary results from more than 90 percent of polling stations put incumbent President Joseph Kabila firmly in the lead, with a strong possibility of winning more than 50 percent of the votes, the figure needed to avoid an October run-off election.
The electoral commission said it planned to release the results of the presidential election Aug. 20. Madison-Seck said the results might be announced a little earlier, but the electoral commission and authorities hoped announcing results on a Sunday would stop any potential unrest because people would be at church.
If there is any violence, it is likely to happen in Kinshasa, a stronghold for Kabila's main challenger, Jean-Pierre Bemba, Madison-Seck said. Kinshasa, in western Congo, is "uneasy" and U.N. armored cars are currently patrolling the city, she added.
Church officials in eastern Congo say people are prepared to accept the results.
"The Kinshasa population seems to think that they're the ones to determine who's going to be the leader for this country, and that's a misconception on their part," Madison-Seck said.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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