DR Congo Supreme Court rules runoff elections can go on as scheduled – UN mission

The Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today validated the results of July’s historic presidential vote and ruled that the runoff election can take place as scheduled on 29 October, despite a constitutional provision that would have required it to be held much sooner, reports the UN mission in the DRC.

According to the mission, known by its French acronym MONUC, the court accepted a request from the Independent Electoral Commission for an exemption to a constitutional requirement that the second-round vote be held 15 days after the certification of the first round.

In extending that period to 50 days, the court accepted the IEC’s argument that it would not have all the materials in place to hold the election before 29 October.

The court today also certified the first-round elections, finding that President Joseph Kabila received 44.8 per cent of the vote to Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba’s 20 per cent.

MONUC said that the UN and the international community stood ready to provide technical and logistical assistance to the IEC, notably in deploying election material the vast interior of the country.

MONUC’s deputy spokesperson Jean-Tobie Okala called that a “gigantic task” involving more than 100 plane and helicopter sorties to distribute some 60,000 electoral kits to more than 50,000 polling stations spread across a country the size of western Europe.