The long-delayed vote to replace Congo’s leader of 18 years, Joseph Kabila, was marred by torrential rains, lost voter rolls and malfunctioning machines.
Long-anticipated elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, already delayed by two years and a week, finally got underway on Sunday, but they were deeply flawed, with more than a million voters excluded from casting their ballots, most of them in opposition strongholds.
Across the country, many voters arrived at polling places only to find that their names were not on electoral rolls. Some voting centers opened seven hours late, partly because of a storm and also because electoral rolls had not arrived in time. Voting machines, in use for the first time, malfunctioned in a number of polling places.
The landmark vote is the country’s first transfer of power through the ballot box since it gained independence in 1960. It was supposed to mark the end of President Joseph Kabila’s nearly 18-year rule, although he recently insinuated that he was open to returning to power in the future.
The elections were originally scheduled to take place in 2016 but were delayed twice, allowing Mr. Kabila to remain in office beyond the constitutionally mandated two-term limit. They were supposed to have been held last Sunday, but were pushed back again by one week because of violence, technical problems and a raging Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo.
There were fears that voting irregularities on Election Day would incite violence, potentially plunging the country into even deeper chaos and possibly even igniting regional turmoil.
