Few incidents of violence reported after Congolese elections

Published: 2006-07-31

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNS) -- Few incidents of violence and irregularities were reported as millions voted July 30 in the Democratic Republic of Congo's first democratic elections in more than 40 years. "Things went really well yesterday -- in fact, surprisingly (so)," said Dorothy Madison-Seck, the regional director of Catholic Relief Services' Central Africa program, in a July 31 telephone interview from Kinshasa, Congo. Although Madison-Seck said there were reports of a few polling stations opening late and other sporadic issues, there were few problems "other than those little glitches." The sheer size of Congo, about the size of Western Europe, presented problems for election organizers. More than 25 million people registered to vote in nearly 50,000 polling stations in Congo, formerly Zaire, that has been racked by 40 years of dictatorial misrule and war. Most election materials had to be brought by United Nations airplanes and helicopters to the polling stations, mostly churches and schools, because there are less than 1,000 miles of paved roads. This was the largest election support operation in the U.N.'s history. Thirty-two candidates, including President Joseph Kabila, competed in the presidential polls, and around 9,700 candidates stood for the newly created, 500-seat Parliament.

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