energy and opposition paint a totally different image
Congo-Brazzaville voted this Sunday, March 21, for the first round of presidential elections. After 36 years of cumulative power at the head of the country, the incorruptible Denis Sassou-Nguesso is seeking a new term of five years. In front of him six opponents. On Sunday evening, whether we were in power or in opposition, we made a very different assessment of this voting day.
A voting day under close scrutinyin peace without major security incident. In Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, the largest cities in the country, attendance was lower than in 2016. “Congolese avoided the vote,” said Brice Mackosso, president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Bishops’ Conference, whose observers were not allowed. to monitor the vote.
Opponent and candidate Mathias Dzon cited “organizational problems” to explain this low turnout. “Some voters did not get their cards,” he said. Others have complained elsewhere that their names cannot be found on voter lists.
Cyr Mayanda, campaign director Guy-Brice Parfait Kolélas, described the vote as “chaotic” and “catastrophic”. He assures us that in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire in particular, dozens of polling stations had not opened in the afternoon due to lack of lists or material, and that his delegate in the field noted “massive fraud”: “You have many situations in Brazzaville, with fictitious offices, in the local campaign seats of the PCT and of the allied parties in the majority.In the Talangai people received 5,000 to 10,000 francs to vote in fictitious offices.In the village of Mbandza-Ndounga several of our delegates were unable to work in the polls and ballots were taken. Everything has to be canceled. It makes no sense! “
And at night, the camp by Guy-Brice Parfait Kolélas learned about the death of the latter. He had been ill for several days, contaminated with Covid-19.
A calm voice for power
At the time of the vote, outgoing President Denis Sassoun-Nguesso welcomed the climate of “peace” that reigned, he said, throughout the campaign and wanted it to be until the end of the process.
Government spokesman Thierry Moungalla is also calling for a “peaceful” and “peaceful” voting day “across the country”. He says he sees the opposition’s accusations as a sign of irritation: “It all smells of defeat. We try to look for explanations that have no relation to reality. There may be imperfections because a choice is never perfect, but not all imperfections are such that they call into question the sincerity or authenticity of the vote. As for the accusations of fictitious offices, of buying votes, it is a classic among some opponents in Africa. “
The spokesman also denies that his government is the origin of the cut-off of internet access and networks that was observed in this vote on Sunday.
►Also read: Congo-Brazzaville Presidential Election: Counting of Votes Organized Without Internet
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