Ministers banned from voting in Congo over violence and fraud

Three government leaders and four state leaders were not allowed to participate in the recent election in the Democratic Republic of Congo because they cheated and used force.

They are not allowed to run in the elections along with 81 other candidates.

However, the announcement did not talk about the election where President Félix Tshisekedi won by a lot.

The other party says the whole election was unfair and wants it to happen again.

However, out of the 19 candidates who are against the current government, only one has taken their case to court. The important people say they don’t trust the courts and want to protest, but they haven’t said when.

The December 20th election had a lot of problems with getting everything organized and in place. Some parts of the big country needed an extra day because the event had to last longer than planned.

Almost two out of three voting locations opened later than they were supposed to, and about 30% of the machines used for voting didn’t work on the first day, as reported by a group of people who were watching and monitoring the voting process.

Many people waited a long time to vote. A lot of people got tired and left.

In a statement, the electoral commission said 82 candidates were disqualified for cheating, stealing, hurting election workers and voters, and breaking equipment.

Among those barred are:

Antoinette Kipulu Kabenga is in charge of teaching people job skills.
Didier Mukanzu is the minister in charge of regional integration.
Nana Manuanina Kihimba works for the president.
Gentiny Ngobila is the leader of Kinshasa province.

They have not said anything about the accusations yet.

The winners of the election have not been announced yet, but all the votes for the 82 people running have been cancelled.

Around 100,000 people ran for office in the elections that took place on December 20th. The winner of the presidential election has been announced.

The commission also said that elections would not happen in two of the country’s 484 areas where people vote. Voting was not allowed in 16 more areas in the east because armed groups were there in the region with a lot of minerals.

Despite the issues, election leader Denis Kadima has said before that the president was chosen by the Congolese people.

Mr Tshisekedi, who is 60 years old, was chosen as the leader for a second time. He got 73% of the votes, while the person closest to him in the election, Moise Katumbi, got 18%.

Approximately 17 million out of the 41 million registered voters actually showed up to vote.

President Tshisekedi will take an oath for his second term on 20 January.