Kinshasa, 3 August 2010 - A delegation from the Electoral Assistance Division of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs has been in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since July 25, in order to determine the World organization's future role in supporting the electoral process in the country. This visit follows a formal request from the Congolese government to the UN Secretary-General requesting the United Nations to ensure centralization and coordination of international support to the general and local elections.

The DRC plans to hold general elections within the constitutional time frame in 2011, followed by local elections in 2012-2013. The Congolese Government therefore, through a letter to the Secretary-General dated 5 June 2010, requested international assistance for the organization of the entire electoral process. It should be remembered that UN Security Council resolution 1925 of 28 May 2010, provides that the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSC) has the mandate, inter alia, ''to provide technical and logistical support for the organization of national and local elections, upon explicit request from the Congolese authorities and within the limits of its capabilities and resources.''

This requirement is met with the Congolese Government's formal request made to the UN Secretary-General on 5 June 2010, and MONUSCO is therefore mandated to act accordingly. "This United Nations General Secretariat mission has come to see what is being done on the ground, with what resources the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) can carry out its mandate to assist the electoral process in Congo" said Mr. Akinfemi Adegbola, Head of the delegation.

According to its Terms of Reference, this mission team is to evaluate the role, and the modalities and scope of United Nations electoral assistance to the general elections in 2011 and local elections in 2012/2013. In particular, it shall address the question of what kind of logistical support to be provided "within the limits of [MONUSCO]'s capacities", as laid out in resolution 1925, and the extent of capacity-building activities that can be implemented with UN assistance, together with support to the electoral operations.

United Nations electoral assistance in DRC is currently being provided through an integrated team that includes the MONUSCO Electoral Division and the UNDP's Project in Support of the Electoral Cycle (PACE). A key element of the context in which electoral assistance will be provided during the next year is the recent creation of an Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). The promulgation - on 28 July 2010, by Congolese President Joseph Kabila - of the law on the organization and functioning of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), certainly marked a significant step in the electoral process.