By Godfrey Olukya
ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo (AA) - The opposition party in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday condemned the country's electoral commission for postponing elections until mid- 2019.
“Electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa's remarks on the need for 504 days before the organization of elections is a declaration of war against the Congolese,” Laurent Batumona Kandi, chairman of the opposition party Movement for Solidarity for Change in DRC, said in a statement.
Batumona Kandi said the opposition has realized that Nangaa is an ally of President Joseph Kabila. He vowed that they will fight against it and make sure elections are held this year.
He said elections were supposed to be held last year but were first pushed to the end of this year and are surprisingly now being postponed to mid 2019.
“It now means we will wait for almost four years before we go for elections? Is that permissible?'' said Batumona Kandi.
He said opposition members will reconstitute themselves into a strong force to be able to defeat the electoral commission's declaration that elections will be held in 504 days.
While meeting civil society organizations yesterday, Nangaa said the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) would need 504 days after the end of voter registration to organize elections.
Kabila’s term of office expired last December but he refused to leave, saying elections could not take place because most voters had not been registered.