DR Congo elections not likely to take place this year

By Godfrey Olukya

ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo

Although the presidential elections in Democratic Republic of Congo are supposed to take place at the end of the year, the country's electoral commission said Wednesday that more time was needed for organization.

''We would need 504 days after the end of the revision of the electoral register to organize elections in the whole country," the Independent National Electoral Commission said in a statement, suggesting the elections could not take place until mid-2019.

The statement was made immediately after the Commission's President Corneille Nangaa met with civil society organizations in the framework of consultation in connection with the electoral process in the country.

According to the statement, Corneille Nangaa also explained to the representatives of the civil society organizations the importance of using the voting machine in the upcoming elections, in an attempt to try to convince them about the reliability of voting machines during the vote.

Corneille Nangaa also said that they would embark on teaching voters how to the use voting machines. CENI also plans to meet with the presidents and representatives of the political parties at the People's Palace.

Initially elections were supposed to take place before the end of last year. But the government said elections could not take place because most of the people had not registered.

This led to nationwide riots which made the Catholic Bishops in the country to hold talks between the government and the opposition coalition. Both had endorsed the Dec. 31, 2016 agreement which stated that voter registration would be completed and elections held before the end of the year.