Bukavu, 22 June 2012 - The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), through its Justice support office in Bukavu, organized between 19 and 21 June 2012, a training on how to tackle electoral disputes as part of the technical and professional capacity-building for magistrates in the Sud-Kivu province. Altogether, 30 magistrates from the Sud-Kivu jurisdictions and offices attended the workshop.

For three days, Congolese trainers who are magistrates by profession reviewed, together with the trainees, the jurisdictional aspects of electoral disputes, the 2006 and 2011 Acts on the organization of elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the handling of disputes arising from political elections.

The training is important in many respects. "DRC's election law empowers courts and tribunals to resolve election disputes and publish final election results," said the first president of the Bukavu Court of Appeal, Abubakar Bakenga. "Such prerogative makes courts and tribunals key stakeholders in the establishment of political institutions in the country," he added.

The Attorney General to the Bukavu Court of Appeal, Pascal Mukonkole, welcomed the initiative, highlighting that "the workshop is a plus for the magistrates since it will help them handle effectively elections-related issues." "The training is very important since it provided guidance on how to deal with election-related disputes and how to do ballot counting," Judge Meniko Jeanne of the high court of Bukavu said in support of her predecessor.

Organized in collaboration with the Supreme Board of Magistrates, the training will proceed in Nord-Kivu, a neighboring province as well as in other parts of the DRC.

Tahina Andriamamonjitianasoa/ MONUSCO