DRC election campaign kicks off
2006-06-29 14:16
Kinshasa - Campaigning officially begins late for the Democratic Republic of Congo's first democratic elections in 45 years, seen as a key step in bringing lasting peace to the vast, war-scarred nation.
President of the Independent Electoral Commission Apollinaire Malu Malu said: "The official campaign begins tonight at a minute to midnight and ends 24 hours before the polls.
"That won't prevent the political men from gathering together their militants to announce that the campaign has started."
Ahead of the official launch, the climate was tense, as parties waited for "political consultations" promised by the presidency on the security of the candidates, their access to the media and the acceptance of the results.
Five-year war ended in 2002
Several opposition parties had threatened to disrupt the campaign if the consultations were not held rapidly.
The vote on July 30 to choose a president and parliament would be followed by provincial and local ballots, designed to conclude the fragile three-year transitional period that succeeded the central African country's civil war.
The last democratic election was in 1961, the year after independence from Belgium.
Although the five-year war, in which five of the DRC's neighbours were embroiled, ended in December 2002, the country remained highly volatile, notably in the east.
9 707 candidates contesting
The war left 300 000 people dead, with another 3.5 million estimated to have died through related violence, famine and illness.
Thirty-three candidates were running for the presidency, including the head of the transitional government, President Joseph Kabila. Another 9 707 candidates were contesting the 500 seats in parliament.
As the main opposition party was boycotting the polls, the presidential contest would play out largely between former belligerents and re-emergent parties from the early days of independence.
Jean-Pierre Bemba backed by Uganda
The first group included Kabila, 35, who came to power in 2001 after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila. He was touting his role in pulling the country back from the brink of partition and steering it into free elections.
He faced challenges from former enemies, including two ex-rebel chiefs who were now vice presidents - Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was backed by Uganda during the war and now leads the 23-party Renaco or Rally for Congolese Nationalists, and Azarias Ruberwa, who was supported by Rwanda in the conflict and now heads the Congolese Rally for Democracy.
The election marked the return of "Mobutists" - supporters of the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was ousted in 1997 after a 32-year kleptocratic rule that brought the country, formerly called Zaire, to its knees.
They included his son Nzanga Mobutu, said to have a strong footing in the north, and his ally Pierre Pay-Pay, whose main support was in his native Kivu in the volatile east.