Court ruling threatens peace
2009-06-21 22:33
Brazzaville - Congo's opposition on Saturday said the court's rejection of its presidential candidates including a former prime minister for July election, threatened peace in the country.
"It is a decision that seriously threatens to disturb the peace," Pascal Tsaty Mabiala, an opposition group spokesman told a rally of several thousand in the capital Brazzaville.
Congo's Constitutional Court on Friday rejected four candidates, including that of the main opposition party, from contesting the July 12 presidential vote.
13 candidates
The main opposition candidate Ange Edouard Poungui, a 67-year-old ex-premier, was rejected because he had not been continuously resident in the country for the past two years, as required by law, the court said.
Poungui, 67, was the choice of the main opposition PanAfrican Union for Social Democracy (UPADS).
Thirteen candidates will contest the presidential election, including the incumbent Denis Sassou Nguesso, a onetime military ruler elected in 2002 in a poll that international observers said fell short of democratic standards.
Saturday's opposition rally was held on the same street where Sassou Nguesso announced he would try for a second term on June 6.
"Nothing is ready for this election to take place on July 12," said Tsaty Mabiala, criticising the organisation of the poll and the lack of an electoral commission with equal representation.
"A few weeks from the election, and we do not know how the Congolese are going to vote," he said.
Lived in exile
Two other candidates were also eliminated by the court for continuous residency reasons. A fourth was ruled out on the grounds that he was over the age limit of 69.
Poungui was prime minister from 1984-89 as head of the Congolese Labour Party prior to multi-party democracy. He lived in exile between 1997 and 2006.
He was nominated UPADS candidate last December.
The party holds 12 seats in the national assembly. It was founded in 1991 by Pascal Lissouba who won the first elections of the multi-party era in 1992, but was ousted by Sassou Nguesso in a 1997 civil war.
The first round of the election is scheduled for July 12. If no candidate wins an outright majority, it will be followed by a second round on a date yet to be announced.
- SAPA
