Soccer striker Drogba kicks off UN-backed fair elections campaign in Africa

Football superstar Didier Drogba today kicked off a United Nations-sponsored campaign to highlight the capacity of democratic and transparent elections to lift people in some of the world’s poorest countries out of poverty through accountable and transparent governance.

The Ivorian striker and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) unveiled a poster in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with a message urging voters to “Get on the pitch, and be a player. Register. Vote. Be heard.”

The DRC is due to hold a series of elections over the next three years, including presidential, legislative, provincial and municipal polls.

The poster, which features Mr. Drogba, who led the Côte d'Ivoire team to its first-ever football World Cup final in 2006, poised for a penalty shootout in the home orange-green colours of his country’s squad.

“For real development to happen, we must ensure free and transparent elections,” said Mr. Drogba. “I believe that good governance can help break countries out of poverty, as long as electors and politicians fully do their part,” he said.

Elections are due in several other countries in Africa, where the majority of the world’s least developed countries are situated, over the coming years.

“My ambition is to help contribute to a true democracy in Africa. That’s why I advocate honesty and play fair – the only way for Africa to move ahead,” Mr. Drogba said.

Preparations for fair and transparent elections in the DRC are supported by UNDP as part of a $390 million initiative signed with the country’s Government in 2008.

The initiative involves projects to strengthen electoral procedures and support stable democratic processes and public services for the country, which is emerging from a civil conflict that has bedevilled the country for over a decade.

“The DRC elections are under way and I am convinced that the poster with UNDP's Goodwill Ambassador Didier Drogba will support our public awareness campaign for fair, democratic and transparent elections, which are the pillars of peacekeeping and strengthening of democracy,” said Apolinaire Malu Malu, president of DRC’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Marking the launch of the campaign for voter registration in Maniema, one of DRC’s poorest and least populated provinces, Fidele Sarassoro, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and UNDP Resident Representative, said: “Fair and transparent elections are essential to give people a real stake in public institutions and democratic processes.

“These are necessary foundations for a lasting peace, which the Congolese people deserve,” Mr. Sarassoro added.

Born in Abidjan in 1978, Mr. Drogba spent his childhood in Côte d'Ivoire and France. He currently plays for Chelsea F.C. of the English Premier League.