The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) pushed ahead on Sunday with an election in which President Denis Sassou N’Guesso is generally expected to extend his 36 years in power, while the leading opposition candidate remained in hospital with COVID-19.
The watchdog group NetBlocks reported an internet shutdown that began in the Central African country around midnight on election day.
After voting, Sassou N’Guesso said the government was aware of opposition candidate Guy Brice Parfait Kolela’s illness and had taken the necessary steps to transfer him to France for further treatment.
Elira Dokekias, head of the Central African nation’s COVID-19 response, said Kolelas had been in serious condition Saturday night, but that he was stable enough on Sunday to be transferred to a coronavirus unit at the university hospital before his medical evacuation abroad.
Kolelas, 61, had skipped his last campaign event on Friday after telling some journalists a day earlier that he feared he had malaria.
A video circulating on social media on Saturday showed that Kolelas was wearing an oxygen mask and a blood pressure cuff on his arm while lying in a hospital bed.
“My dear countrymen, I am in trouble. I’m fighting to the death, ”says the candidate in a low-pitched voice after removing his oxygen mask. “However, I ask you to stand up and vote for change. I would not have fought for nothing. ”
Kolelas placed second after Sassou N’Guesso in the country’s 2016 presidential election with about 15% of the vote.
The opposition figure has been particularly critical of the incumbent leader in recent days and has declared that the DRC had become “a police state”.
Sassou N’Guesso is the third longest-serving president in Africa, ruling from 1979-1992 and then again since 1997 in this nation that is often overshadowed by its great neighbor Congo.
The DRC has had fewer than 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with 134 confirmed deaths.
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