Congolese voters grope way to democracy

KINSHASA – In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) capital a young man grappled with a ballot as big as a newspaper on yesterday as a growing queue wished aloud he would hurry up so that they too can “vote at last after 40 years”.

It was a typical scene as the sprawling central African country, a nation often called Africa’s “heart of darkness”, went to the polls as the region held its breath. Millions of voters streamed to ballot stations in the tropical heat to choose between 33 presidential hopefuls and hundreds of candidates on the parliamentary list.In a school in Kinshasa’s Lemba district it proved too dark inside the ballot booths for many to pinpoint their candidate on four pages bearing 840 names in fine print.”I knew the numbers of my candidates but it is so dark in there that it took me a long time to find their names,” said Josephine Moke, a 58-year-old mother and housewife.”People who do not have good eyesight are going to struggle,” she added as impatient voters crowded around two lamps in the converted classroom.But these were small problems in a country riddled with corruption and conflict and did not dampen the Congolese’s joy at their first shot at democracy.”It is the big day for which we have waited so long.We are going to have leaders we chose ourselves,” unemployed Antoine Moninga, 41, said after at last locating his voting station in the capital’s Bandulangwa area.”The days when people spoke for us without a mandate are over.”Many voters walked for miles during the night to be in place as some 50 000 voting stations opened an hour after dawn across a country that is almost the size of western Europe.In Goma, 30-year-old Marie Claire told AFP: “This is a historic moment which I am going to have to tell my children, and then my grandchildren, about.”The eastern town sits close to the Rwandan border, a faultline of the ethnic conflict between Hutus and Tutsis that lies at the root of the five-year regional war that broke out in the former Zaire in 1998.Some 80 000 policemen and more than 18 000 UN and European troops are watching over the elections while there are reports that the transitional government of Joseph Kabila has stepped up its own security around the capital.But observers said around midday that the one-day vote was unfolding relatively peacefully.”Overall things are very calm.There has been no serious incident since this morning,” UN spokesman Saidou Adbou said.The worst tension was the central mining town of Mbuji-Mayi, a stronghold of veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi who has called a boycott of the poll.On the eve of the election a lorry carrying ballots to some 60 voting stations here was set alight and youths on Sunday threw stones at the press and policemen.”There is only three of us and we are not armed …They need to send us reinforcements,” policeman Bienvenue Mayele told the news agency.Queues were short though voting stations opened late because officials said they were attacked by boycotters.”We are only starting our work now.We could not set up last night because as soon as the voting material arrived people started stoning us,” voting station chief Eugenie Kazadi told AFP.Back in Kinshasa, a trader voting for Kabila’s main rival, former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, was too happy to keep his choice secret.”I am going to vote for Bemba! It cannot be a secret, it is the first time we are doing this, we lack experience,” he laughed.A French election observer drily remarked that polling looked little like it does in Europe though the effect should be the same.- Nampa-AFPMillions of voters streamed to ballot stations in the tropical heat to choose between 33 presidential hopefuls and hundreds of candidates on the parliamentary list.In a school in Kinshasa’s Lemba district it proved too dark inside the ballot booths for many to pinpoint their candidate on four pages bearing 840 names in fine print.”I knew the numbers of my candidates but it is so dark in there that it took me a long time to find their names,” said Josephine Moke, a 58-year-old mother and housewife.”People who do not have good eyesight are going to struggle,” she added as impatient voters crowded around two lamps in the converted classroom.But these were small problems in a country riddled with corruption and conflict and did not dampen the Congolese’s joy at their first shot at democracy.”It is the big day for which we have waited so long.We are going to have leaders we chose ourselves,” unemployed Antoine Moninga, 41, said after at last locating his voting station in the capital’s Bandulangwa area.”The days when people spoke for us without a mandate are over.”Many voters walked for miles during the night to be in place as some 50 000 voting stations opened an hour after dawn across a country that is almost the size of western Europe.In Goma, 30-year-old Marie Claire told AFP: “This is a historic moment which I am going to have to tell my children, and then my grandchildren, about.”The eastern town sits close to the Rwandan border, a faultline of the ethnic conflict between Hutus and Tutsis that lies at the root of the five-year regional war that broke out in the former Zaire in 1998.Some 80 000 policemen and more than 18 000 UN and European troops are watching over the elections while there are reports that the transitional government of Joseph Kabila has stepped up its own security around the capital.But observers said around midday that the one-day vote was unfolding relatively peacefully.”Overall things are very calm.There has been no serious incident since this morning,” UN spokesman Saidou Adbou said.The worst tension was the central mining town of Mbuji-Mayi, a stronghold of veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi who has called a boycott of the poll.On the eve of the election a lorry carrying ballots to some 60 voting stations here was set alight and youths on Sunday threw stones at the press and policemen.”There is only three of us and we are not armed …They need to send us reinforcements,” policeman Bienvenue Mayele told the news agency.Queues were short though voting stations opened late because officials said they were attacked by boycotters.”We are only starting our work now.We could not set up last night because as soon as the voting material arrived people started stoning us,” voting station chief Eugenie Kazadi told AFP.Back in Kinshasa, a trader voting for Kabila’s main rival, former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, was too happy to keep his choice secret.”I am going to vote for Bemba! It cannot be a secret, it is the first time we are doing this, we lack experience,” he laughed.A French election observer drily remarked that polling looked little like it does in Europe though the effect should be the same.- Nampa-AFP