Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo addresses a news conference in Kinshasa Thomson Reuters KINSHASA (Reuters) - The election commission of Democratic Republic of Congo has excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and two former prime ministers from the list of approved candidates for December's presidential election, which was published on Friday.

Bemba, a former warlord who earlier in August returned to the Congolese capital Kinshasa to submit his candidacy for president after a decade in prison in The Hague for war crimes, had been seen as one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed incumbent Joseph Kabila.

The commission's decision can be appealed before the final list of candidates is published in September.

(Reporting by Amedee Mwarabu; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Sandra Maler)</s>Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba cannot run to be the next president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's electoral commission said.Mr Bemba was one of six would-be...Read more via BBC – https://ift.tt/2NgsV09 Get more World News</s>Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba cannot run to be the next president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's electoral commission said.

Mr Bemba was one of six would-be candidates deemed ineligible following hours of deliberation.

The ex-rebel leader had a war crimes conviction overturned in June.

However, the commission said Mr Bemba was excluded because of his conviction by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for bribing witnesses.

Mr Bemba, who returned to the DR Congo at the start of August after 11 years spent in exile or prison, is currently appealing against the ICC conviction.

This year's election is meant to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, whose second and final term in office ended two years ago.

The governing coalition has nominated former Interior Minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary to be its candidate.

A total of 25 people put their names forward, including former prime ministers Antoine Gizenga and Adolphe Muzito - both of whom were deemed ineligible to run.

Opposition parties condemned the electoral commission's decision before it was even announced, accusing "the current regime" of trying "to suppress the electoral process".

Those excluded, including Mr Bemba, who is one of President Kabila's most feared rivals, can appeal against the decision.

The final list of candidates is scheduled to be published in September.

§ A well-connected businessman and the son of prominent Congolese businessman Bemba Saolona

§ 1998: Helped by Uganda to form MLC rebel group in Democratic Republic of Congo

§ 2006: Loses run-off election to President Joseph Kabila but gets most votes in western DR Congo, including Kinshasa

§ 2007: Flees to Belgium after clashes in Kinshasa

§ 2008: Arrested in Brussels and handed over to ICC

§ 2016: Found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity</s>Congo's election commission has excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and three former prime ministers from the list of approved candidates for December's presidential election.

Bemba, a former warlord, returned to the capital, Kinshasa, earlier this month to submit his candidacy for president after a decade in prison in The Hague for war crimes. He had been seen as one of the front-runners in the race to succeed incumbent Joseph Kabila.

The commission said that a separate International Criminal Court conviction for witness tampering was the reason Bemba was left off the list.

Bemba was acquitted earlier this year on appeal at the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity for murder, rape and pillage committed by fighters he sent to Central African Republic in 2002.

His witness tampering conviction however, still stands.

The election commission's decision was condemned by opposition parties and can be appealed before the final list is published in September.

"Once again the current regime is showing its determination to suppress the electoral process," they said in a joint statement before the commission published the list on Friday.

Kabila likely to stay involved in politics

Last month, in a rare public opinion poll on the likely outcome of the election, Bemba placed third with 17 percent support.

He is popular in western Congoand in Kinshasa, and being left off the ballot could trigger a violent reaction by his supporters. Street battles between militiamen loyal to Bemba and state forces broke out in Kinshasa after he lost the 2006 election to Kabila.

After years of speculation, Kabila agreed earlier this month to obey the two-term limit imposed by the constitution and not put his name in the poll set for December 23. He has chosen former Interior Minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, who has been placed under EU sanctions, to stand instead.

The choice of Shadary, a die-hard loyalist, suggests Kabila — who came to power after his father's assassination in 2001 — intends to remain closely involved in national politics. He will be eligible to run again in 2023.

Among the six candidates also excluded from the commission's list are former prime ministers Adolphe Muzito, Antoine Gizenga and Samy Badibanga.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba’s candidacy in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s upcoming presidential elections was deemed “inadmissible” by the country’s election commission on Friday, as opposition groups cried foul.

The commission rejected the candidacy of Bemba, a rival to DR Congo President Joseph Kabila, on the basis that he had been “convicted by the International Criminal Court” in March 2018 and handed a year in prison and a 300,000 euro fine for bribing witnesses.

Bemba’s war crimes convictions were overturned by the court in The Hague and he returned to Kinshasa in August after being acquitted.

Just ahead of the election commission’s announcement, the political opposition to president Kabila issued a fresh rallying cry, accusing the “powers that be” of seeking to “exclude” multiple opposition candidates.

Opposition groups called on Kabila to free up the electoral process and “stop giving injunctions to the election commission,” according to a statement signed by Bemba, and exiled opposition politicians Moise Katumbi and Felix Tshisekedi.

Overall, the election commission has excluded six out of the 25 candidates who had registered to run in the presidential elections, set for December 23.

In addition to Bemba, the commission has barred three of Kabila’s former prime ministers — Samy Badibanga, Adolphe Muzito, and Antoine Gizenga.

“These exclusions are unacceptable and show once again that the electoral commission is totally dominated by Kabila,” Moise Katumbi wrote on Twitter.

A former governor of Katanga who joined the opposition in 2015, Katumbi said that he had been blocked from returning to the DRC to register his candidacy.

He has been living in Belgium since 2016 and has been sentenced absentia to three years in prison. Considered a fugitive by the Ministry of Justice, he is the subject of an international arrest warrant.

“With the population, the opposition, civil society, our partners, let’s keep up the pressure, refuse to accept these sham elections,” Katumbi added.

The six excluded candidates have 48 hours to appeal to the Constitutional Court. The election commission must publish a final list of candidates by September 19.</s>The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Independent National Electoral Commission, CENI, has excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from a preliminary list of candidates ahead of long delayed elections.

Aside the former vice-president, CENI also rejected applications of five others including three former prime ministers. They cited reasons such as: “lack of nationality, no proof of payment, candidates conflict with their own party, failure of the cards, conviction by a court.”

The inadmissible list included: Ifoku, Sami Badibanga, Moka Ngolo, Muzito Adolphe, Gizenga Antoine, Bemba Ngombo. With the current exclusion, there are 19 candidates running to succeed Kabila including ruling party’s Emmanuel Ramazany Shadary.

Bemba, a former warlord who earlier in August returned to Kinshasa to submit his candidacy for president after a decade in prison in The Hague for war crimes, had been seen as one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed incumbent Joseph Kabila.

The commission said a separate International Criminal Court (ICC) conviction for witness tampering was the reason for Bemba’s exclusion from the list.

Bemba was acquitted on appeal at the ICC of war crimes and crimes against humanity for murder, rape and pillage committed by fighters he sent to Central African Republic in 2002 but his witness tampering conviction stands.

Opposition parties condemned the election commission’s decision, which can be appealed before the final list is published in September.

CENI also said over 15,500 candidates had been passed to contest for seats in the national assembly. The elections due to have been held in December 2016 will finally be held in December 23, 2018.</s>KINSHASA: The election commission of Democratic Republic of Congo has excluded opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and two former prime ministers from the list of approved candidates for December's presidential election, which was published on Friday.

Bemba, a former warlord who earlier in August returned to the Congolese capital Kinshasa to submit his candidacy for president after a decade in prison in The Hague for war crimes, had been seen as one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed incumbent Joseph Kabila.

The commission's decision can be appealed before the final list of candidates is published in September.</s>The Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral commission rejects Jean-Pierre Bemba's candidacy on the basis of his previous war crime convictions by the International Criminal Court

KINSHASA, DR Congo – Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba's candidacy in the Democratic Republic of Congo's upcoming presidential elections was deemed "inadmissible" by the country's election commission on Friday, August 24, as opposition groups cried foul.

The commission rejected the candidacy of Bemba, a rival to DR Congo President Joseph Kabila, on the basis that he had been "convicted by the International Criminal Court" in March 2018 and handed a year in prison and a 300,000 euro fine for bribing witnesses.

Bemba's war crimes convictions were overturned by the court in The Hague and he returned to Kinshasa in August after being acquitted.

Just ahead of the election commission's announcement, the political opposition to president Kabila issued a fresh rallying cry, accusing the "powers that be" of seeking to "exclude" multiple opposition candidates.

Opposition groups called on Kabila to free up the electoral process and "stop giving injunctions to the election commission," according to a statement signed by Bemba, and exiled opposition politicians Moise Katumbi and Felix Tshisekedi. (READ: Deal reached to end DRCongo political crisis)

Overall, the election commission has excluded 6 out of the 25 candidates who had registered to run in the presidential elections, set for December 23.

A country of some 80 million people, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has never known a peaceful transition of power since it gained independence in 1960.

Kabila – in power since 2001 – took over from his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, who was assassinated by a bodyguard.

His tenure over the vast mineral-rich country has been marked by a reputation for corruption, inequality and unrest. The watchdog Transparency International ranked it 156 out of 176 countries in its 2016 corruption index.

Bemba lost presidential elections to Kabila in 2006 and was later accused of treason when his bodyguards clashed with the army in Kinshasa.

In 2007, he fled to Belgium, where he had spent part of his youth.

He was then arrested in Europe on a warrant by the ICC for war crimes committed by his private army in the neighbouring Central African Republic from 2002-3, when its then-president Ange-Felix Patasse sought his help to repel a coup attempt.

He was sentenced in The Hague in 2016 to 18 years before the conviction was overturned in June on appeal.

The ICC declared Bemba could not be held responsible for crimes committed by his troops. –Rappler.com</s>The Independent National Electoral Commission has published the names of the 48 political parties that are contesting the governorship election in Osun State on September 22, 2018, with the names of their governorship candidates and deputies.

The list was unearthed by the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Segun Agbaje, at the presentation of soft copies of the voters’ register to the participating political parties.

Agbaje said the exercise was in line with the Electoral Act of the country and the law of the Commission.

The strategic meeting also had in attendance Chief Adedeji Shoyebi, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Oyo, Osun and Ekiti States.

Agbaje said 1,152,751 Permanent Voter Cards had been collected by their owners out of 1,668,524 received in the state, leaving a balance of 515,773 as at August 17.

He said it was sad that over 500,000 PVCs had yet to be collected out of the over 1.6 million produced for registered voters in the state.

The names of the parties and their candidates are as follows:</s>THE FULL LIST OF AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTERS SINCE 1901
The electoral commission publishes the list of approved candidates. Jean-Pierre Bemba and two former prime ministers are excluded.