Congolese to use contested voting machines for Dec. 23 election

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Independent National Electoral Commission is preparing contested voter machines for the December 23 Presidential election.

The move comes after thousands of voting machines went up in flames last week in the capital Kinshasa.

Opposition parties have strongly contested the introduction of untested tablet-like voting machines for the election.

They argue that the machines are more vulnerable to vote-rigging than paper and ink, and could be compromised by the unreliability of Congo’s power supply.

The commission believe the voting machines will facilitate, speed up and give reliable and truthful results in the long-delayed December 23 polls.

Last week’s blaze at a depot destroyed 8,000 of over 10,000 voting machines due to be used in the capital Kinshasa, but CENI said the election would go ahead as scheduled.

Though the commission has said nothing on who it believes is responsible for the fire, the ruling coalition and leading opposition candidates immediately traded accusations of blame.

Reuters