Photo: Alberto Mbuwa

Kinshasa, 16 September 2011 – Three cargo planes transporting three hundred tons of electoral material landed at N'Djili International Airport, in the Congolese capital, on 14 and 15 September. This first batch of electoral material from China comprised electoral kits intended for elections that are expected to start later this year.

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), in line with its mandate, started deploying the material to the different regions in the country. Six tons were delivered to the relevant provincial authorities in Equateur Province on 15 September.

MONUSCO will further ship them to sub-hubs from where it will then be the duty of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to distribute them to the smallest communities in Equateur as well in the neighboring Bandundu province. The process will continue until all polling stations are supplied with the necessary equipment before the date of the first elections. More material is expected in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, a ship from Lebanon with 70 containers of additional electoral material docked at the Matadi port on 15 September. According to the INEC authorities, each container comprised 116 800 voting booths.

The delivery of this equipment represents a major step in the electoral process. Other milestones include the submission of presidential and parliamentarian candidacies that concluded on 11 September; the publication on 8 September of a Code of Good Conduct for all political parties taking part in the elections; and the voter registration, which was completed on 17 July. The electoral campaign is slated for 28 October and the presidential election a month later.

Penangnini Toure/MONUSCO