By Godfrey Olukya
ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo (AA) - The Democratic Republic of Congo’s main opposition party on Saturday selected its candidate for long-delayed presidential elections.
In a two-day meeting in the capital Kinshasa, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) leadership selected Felix Tshisekedi, the son of late Prime Minister Etienne Tshisekedi, as their candidate in presidential elections set for this December, Ambrose Kayembe, a senior party mobilizer, told Anadolu Agency.
Kayembe said that out of the 800 party leaders who participated in the selection, the vast majority -- over 700 -- voted in favor of Tshisekedi.
The candidate’s father and UDPS founder Etienne Tshisekedi died in Brussels in February 2017, and to date his body has not been brought back to the country.
President Joseph Kabila's term of office expired in December 2016 but he refused to relinquish power, saying most voters had not been registered.
After a series of demonstrations by the opposition in which over 50 people were killed, the government set Dec. 23 as the date for the next presidential elections.