This Tuesday, April 20, the national deputies are expected to look at a new bill that modifies and complements the law on Cenis’ organization and function.
as reported from Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
According to Christophe Lutundula, its initiator, this law is called upon to help improve the legal framework governing the electoral process. The deputy, now foreign minister, said he had noticed that the three previous election cycles were punctured by force. The legal remedies went much further from 300 in 2006 to 1040 in 2018. He therefore proposes changes.
The Lutundula Bill proposes that the appointment of the President of Ceni be carried out through consensus between civil society, the majority and the opposition. He proposed that these three units also, in equal parts for each, appoint the 15 members of the Commission, taking into account gender equality.
As for the profile of the future leaders of Ceni, the project stipulates that they will not have been heads of political organizations or associations close to a political party during the five years prior to their appointment. This is not in favor of civil society, which wants the Cenis office to be freed from delegates from political parties.
Christophe Lutundula also wants to relativize the weight of the Ceni president by strengthening the powers of the plenary assembly, which would then have a predominant role in the implementation of the electoral process. Still in this perspective, he also proposes that a permanent commission be set up within CENI to be responsible for monitoring the electoral process.
The bill also proposes that the financing of Ceni be done with specific resources within the framework of a special election fund. And to ensure transparency in the election budget, Christophe Lutundula wants the Ceni office to be required to publish this year’s financial reports on a quarterly basis.
.
