Derailed By Fire And Disarray, Congo Delays Presidential Election — Again

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Three days before voters were finally to cast their ballots for president, authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared something that's become familiar: another delay. The electoral commission announced Thursday that elections to replace President Joseph Kabila already two years behind schedule, have been postponed to Dec. 30.

The commission, known as CENI, revealed the delay during a private meeting with the presidential candidates — including opposition candidate Seth Kikuni, who tweeted afterward that CENI is "technically unable to organize the elections this Sunday."

Commission officials formally announced the move later Thursday at a news conference in the capital, Kinshasa. The decision comes just one week after suspected arson destroyed nearly 80 percent of the city's voting machines in a massive blaze.

At the same time, in war-torn regions more than 1,500 miles to the east, Congo remains deeply embroiled in the worst Ebola outbreak in its history, with some 550 suspected and confirmed cases since the start of August.

Still, Sunday's vote offered a glimmer of hope for a country that long grappled with doubts that presidential elections would be held at all. Kabila, 47, has held power since 2001, when he took office after his father's assassination, and the term-limited leader has spent the past two years repeatedly delaying the election to decide his successor and violently cracking down on dissenters who protested the delays.

Enlarge this image toggle caption John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images

And though Kabila confirmed earlier this year that he would not try to stand for re-election, security forces stirred fears of renewed repression during recent clashes with opposition supporters. Several people were killed in the bloodshed last week, and Kinshasa Gov. Andre Kimbuta, a member of the ruling coalition, banned campaigning in the capital on Wednesday, citing security reasons.

The disarray of recent days has called forth unpleasant memories among the Congolese, who are no strangers to violent and unstable elections — including the past two presidential votes, which saw Kabila retain power despite rampant fighting and claims of fraud.

On Wednesday, as rumors of a potential delay circulated, one of the opposition front-runners, Martin Fayulu, told Reuters it would be unacceptable to postpone the vote.

"The CENI president said there will be an election rain or shine on the 23rd of December," he said. "We cannot accept a change of [CENI President Corneille] Nangaa's position today."

Another candidate, Noel Tshiani, applied a more positive spin to the decision.

"If the elections are postponed," he tweeted Thursday, "let's seize this opportunity to organize 4 presidential debates to enable the Congolese people to get to know the candidates better."</s>KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo delays presidential election until Dec. 30, electoral official says, citing fire that destroyed voting machines.</s>(KINSHASA, Congo) — Congo’s electoral commission has delayed the country’s long-awaited presidential election until Dec. 30, citing problems caused by a recent fire that destroyed 80 percent of the voting machines in the capital.

The vote had been scheduled for Sunday. This is the latest of several delays in the election originally scheduled for late 2016, amid opposition concerns that President Joseph Kabila was finding ways to stay in power.

Corneille Nangaa, head of the electoral commission, said officials have found enough voting machines for Kinshasa but had to get 5 million new ballots printed.

Nangaa called on the country of some 40 million voters for calm.</s>KINSHASA, Congo — Congo delays presidential election until Dec. 30, electoral official says, citing fire that destroyed voting machines.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>The electoral commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo says that the number of voters allocated to each polling station in the capital will have to increase after last week’s fire at its warehouses destroyed election material.

More than two thirds of the electoral voting machines needed for Kinshasa were lost, raising fears many would not be able to vote.

The electoral commission now says it has replaced nearly all the machines needed for the city’s four million voters.

It says it will plan for 700 voters at each polling station instead of 600.

The commission says at least 6,000 electronic voting machines will be operational in Kinshasa, and more than 1,000 will serve as backups in case of any technical failure.

Most of these machines were shipped from neighbouring provinces and the last batch is due to arrive shortly in the capital.</s>Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission on Thursday delayed the country’s long-awaited presidential election until December 30, citing a recent fire that destroyed 80% of the voting machines in the capital.

The vote had been scheduled for Sunday. This is the latest of several delays in the election originally scheduled for late 2016, amid opposition concerns that President Joseph Kabila had been looking for ways to stay in power. Kabila, in office since 2001, earlier this year announced he would step aside.

After last week’s fire destroyed some 8 000 voting machines in Kinshasa, officials found replacement machines but had to get 5 million new ballots printed and prepared, said Corneille Nangaa, head of the national electoral commission.

He called on the country of some 40 million voters for calm. The delay of even a week could spark another wave of unrest.

Some protesters quickly gathered outside the electoral commission’s offices to demonstrate against the decision to postpone the vote.

“Nangaa speaks nonsense. They didn’t organize the election in seven years and they want us to believe they will be ready in seven days? Kabila is sabotaging the election. Kabila must go,” said Fiston Adumba, 32.

Tensions have been rising in Congo, which has not had a peaceful, democratic change of leader since it became independent from Belgium in 1960.

On Wednesday the governor of Kinshasa, Andre Kimbuta, banned all election rallies in the capital, citing security concerns. That prevented main opposition leader Martin Fayulu from holding a rally. Thousands of angry supporters gathered but police dispersed them with tear gas.

“No postponement is justifiable,” Fayulu’s coalition said in a statement later on Thursday, saying it would not accept the delay and accusing Kabila of trying to stay in power and “continue to loot the country.”

Several people have been killed in recent days at chaotic opposition rallies in various parts of the country, leading the UN Security Council to issue a statement this week calling on DRC’s government to “swiftly investigate.” The council also called for a “violence-free environment”.

On Deember 12, the UN’s special representative in DRC denounced “the obstacles encountered by some opposition candidates during their efforts to hold public meetings in certain cities around the country.”

Among several incidents, Fayulu was prevented from landing in Kindu where he was scheduled hold a rally on December 9, according to his campaign manager, Pierre Lumbi.

“I am concerned by the growing tensions … and the risk of escalating violence that could lead to the commission of grave crimes,” the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, said in a statement on Thursday. She warned that anyone who “incites or participates in mass violence” could be prosecuted.

Other observers have expressed concern over whether adequate election materials have been distributed across the vast country that is more than three times the size of Texas.

DRC is using voting machines for the first time, a rarity in Africa, and opposition members, diplomats and technical experts have expressed concern about the possibility of manipulation.</s>County solicitor Garen Fedeles said a court settlement requires the machines be purchased by the next presidential election.

BEAVER — There's no avoiding a state mandate to make all voting machines have a paper trail by 2020, county officials said Wednesday.

Chief solicitor Garen Fedeles told commissioners that the required purchase is tied to a settlement of a lawsuit filed against the state over the 2016 presidential election.

"Our hands are tied based on that lawsuit," Fedeles said. "All counties are required to implement (the new machines) for the 2020 presidential election as part of the settlement."

In April, state officials announced that counties must replace all voting machines before the 2020 election, preferably before the general election in November 2019. No matter how old the machines are in a county, they must be replaced with a machine that will produce a paper trail of votes.

The mandate comes with a hefty price tag and at least $14.15 million in state and federal funding. Earlier this month, Gov. Tom Wolf said he hopes to fund the mandate at least 50 percent.

Commissioner Chairman Daniel Camp said that the county will need to buy about 495 machines, which are expected to cost between $2,500 and $3,000 each. That expense is in the county's preliminary 2019 budget under capital expenses, but a funding stream hasn't yet been identified.

Commissioner Tony Amadio has pushed to delay the purchase until after the presidential election, but that won't be possible, Fedeles said. Amadio said he would like to see Beaver County and other counties create a consortium to purchase the machines to help cut down on costs.

One of Amadio's concerns has been that there are few companies certified to sell the machines in Pennsylvania. Two are currently certified, Fedeles said, with a third expected to join the ranks by the end of the week. Others are expected to be certified in January, he said.

Amadio suggested that the state look into buying the machines in a one bulk purchase, rather than individual counties making the purchase.

"It's a bigger pot that way, and we could get a better price," he said.

Amadio, frustrated by the situation, also made an outside-the-box suggestion.

"There's one way to get out of this unfunded mandate," Amadio said. "Go back to paper ballots.

"You want a paper trail, there you have it."</s>PRETORIA - Presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been delayed for a week.

The country's electoral commission says a fire in its warehouse last week has made it impossible to hold the poll on Sunday as scheduled.

The country's 46 million voters will now cast their ballots on 30 December.

The delay in the elections, already more than two years late, has displeased many of the 21 presidential candidates.

They're saying it is driven more by politics than logistics.

Electoral commission head Corneille Nangaa says voting machines to replace the 8,000 destroyed in the fire will arrive at the weekend. It will take at least three days to align them with the existing machines.

Since voting on Christmas Day is out of the question, it was decided to postpone the exercise until the end of this month.</s>Congo's electoral commission has delayed the country's long-awaited presidential election until Dec. 30, citing a recent fire that destroyed 80 percent of the voting machines in the capital.

The vote had been scheduled for Sunday. This is the latest of several delays in the election originally scheduled for late 2016, amid opposition concerns that President Joseph Kabila was looking for ways to stay in power.

After last week's fire destroyed some 8,000 voting machines in Kinshasa, officials found replacement machines but had to get 5 million new ballots printed, said Corneille Nangaa, head of the national electoral commission.

He called on the country of some 40 million voters for calm.

Tensions have risen in Congo ahead of the election.

On Wednesday the governor of Kinshasa, Andre Kimbuta, banned all election rallies in the capital, citing security concerns. That prevented main opposition leader Martin Fayulu from holding a rally. Thousands of angry supporters gathered but police dispersed them with tear gas.

Several people have been killed in recent days at chaotic opposition rallies in various parts of the country, leading the U.N. Security Council to issue a statement this week calling on Congo's government to "swiftly investigate." The council also called for a "violence-free environment."

On Dec. 12, the U.N.'s special representative in Congo denounced "the obstacles encountered by some opposition candidates during their efforts to hold public meetings in certain cities around the country." Among several incidents, Fayulu was prevented from landing in Kindu where he was scheduled hold a rally on Dec. 9, according to his campaign manager, Pierre Lumbi.

"I am concerned by the growing tensions ... and the risk of escalating violence that could lead to the commission of grave crimes," the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, said in a statement on Thursday. She warned that anyone who "incites or participates in mass violence" could be prosecuted.

Other observers have expressed concern over whether adequate election materials have been distributed across the vast country that is more than three times the size of Texas.

Even before the delay was announced, some observers criticized the Kabila government for not making adequate preparations for the vote.

"We had seven years to prepare these elections and at the last minute the electoral commission gives the impression they are not ready for the vote," said Rev. Jean Marie Bomengola with the Episcopal Bishops Conference, which plans to deploy 40,000 election observers.</s>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is settling a vote-counting lawsuit stemming from the 2016 presidential election, in part by affirming a commitment it made previously to push Pennsylvania’s counties to buy voting…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is settling a vote-counting lawsuit stemming from the 2016 presidential election, in part by affirming a commitment it made previously to push Pennsylvania’s counties to buy voting systems that leave a verifiable paper trail by 2020.

Paperwork filed Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia caps a lawsuit that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein filed in 2016 as she sought recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

All three states had a history of backing Democrats for president before they were narrowly and unexpectedly won by Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Months ago , Wolf, a Democrat, began pushing counties to upgrade to voting machines that leave a paper trail as a safeguard against hacking by 2020. Four in five Pennsylvania voters use machines that lack an auditable paper trial.

In the settlement, Wolf underscores that commitment “so that every Pennsylvania voter in 2020 uses a voter-verifiable paper ballot.” The settlement also requires the state to institute audits of election results by 2022 before the results are certified, based on recommendations from a working group the state must assemble by Jan. 1.

Ilann Maazel, a lawyer for Stein and a handful of registered Pennsylvania voters who sued, said Thursday that the agreement is “a major step forward for Pennsylvania voters and election integrity.”

The lawsuit had accused Pennsylvania of violating the constitutional rights of voters because its voting machines were susceptible to hacking and barriers to a recount were pervasive.

In September, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond had denied the Wolf administration’s effort to dismiss the lawsuit’s claims that the continued use of paperless voting machines may violate the constitutional rights of voters. Diamond, however, will retain jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of the settlement.

The state had faced the risk that the court could have ordered a much shorter time frame for counties to switch to the new voting machines, and could have ordered the post-election audits to be implemented immediately, Kathy Boockvar, an election adviser to Wolf, said Thursday evening in an email to county officials.

Pennsylvania is one of 13 states where most or all voters use antiquated machines that store votes electronically without printed ballots or other paper-based backups that could be used to double-check the vote, according to researchers at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.

The cost of buying new voting systems will be $125 million, county officials estimate, and say the greatest single impediment to buying new voting machines is the lack of a funding source.

Until Thursday, Wolf hadn’t said how much his administration would be willing to pay for the machines. But in the email to county officials, Boockvar said for the first time that Wolf is committed to asking lawmakers for state funding to foot at least half of the cost, on top of about $14 million in federal money already available.

This story has been corrected to show that lawyer Ilann Maazel commented Thursday, instead of Stein and a handful of voters suing Thursday.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
The CENI electoral commission delays the election to 30 December after 80% of the voting machines in the capital were destroyed in a suspected arson last week.