With 88.57% of the vote, according to the official preliminary results announced on Tuesday, March 24, Denis Sassou-Nguesso was re-elected President of Congo-Brazzaville for five years. But his opponents intend to appeal this vote, which they condemn. The rapid publication of these preliminary results and certain articles of the Constitution justify their decision.
After 37 years at the helm of the country, Denis Sassou-Nguesso must leave a new five-year term as president of Congo-Brazzaville. The head of state was was re-elected with 88.57% of the vote, according to preliminary results announced Tuesday by Interior Minister Raymond Mboulou. After greeting his supporters and expressing their wishes for prosperity, Denis Sassou-Nguesso sent a message to the defeated candidates in this election. He reminded them that Congo-Brazzaville was a common good.
But the outstretched hand has not found anyone to take. The opposition contradicts the provisional results announced on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after the polls closed. Everyone condemned a “catastrophic” election, while African Union observers noted several dysfunctions in the vote.
“It’s really very dirty”
The speed of these interim results is the most common complaint. Mathias Dzon, who came third according to these results with 1.90% of the votes, believes that they were compiled in a hurry:
“It is not in one day that we can compile the results from the whole of Congo, and that is not the way we can give them. There is something surprising: in most of the results, we follow the order in which the candidates are presented on the ballot. So it’s something preconceived. ”
The same story for Jean-Jacques Yhombi-Opango, allied with the late Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who came in second with 7.84% of the vote. According to him, it is doubtful how quickly these results were announced:
“I would like to see what material they could make. I want us to develop. We are told here that there is no biometrics, that there is not all this technology. Do it so fast? I’m pretty surprised. It is not normal. Not all collections have yet arrived in Brazzaville. It’s really very dirty. ”
The Sassou-Nguesso camp accuses the opposition of being disorganized
The opposition especially disputes the results from the forest regions in the north, more than 900 kilometers from the capital Brazzaville. Accusations rejected by Anatole Collinet Makosso, spokeswoman for Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s campaign, for which the opposition only needs to be better organized:
“The state has its channels for the transmission of information. It does not need to be compared to the individual who does not even know how he can get the results here. If they were better organized, they could have them. The state should nevertheless not subordinate its function to skill, diligence or non-diligence for individuals. It’s not possible.”
Article 70 of the Constitution is at the heart of the debate
Another reason to oppose the opposition: Article 70 of the Constitution. The latter contains two scenarios: if a candidate dies or is unable before the first round, the vote must be postponed. And if this happens to a candidate who is qualified for others, voting must be suspended and reorganized …
Guy-Brice Perfect Kolélas was in the hospital on Saturday, March 20, just before the presidential election. The candidate is deceased the night of Sunday the 21st to Monday the 22nd of March in the plane that took him to France, where he would receive treatment. The Congolese opponent, diagnosed positive for Covid-19, died at the age of 60.
The relatives of Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas will try to justify the first case, as their candidate underwent a medical evacuation during the vote. And we are outraged by the zeal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CNEI) to disqualify this argument, while it is not its role.
Jean-Jacques Yhombi-Opango develops this article 70, which one “interprets as one wishes, according to its edge”. “Do you realize that the Chief Electoral Officer has been on TV to begin justifying Article 70?” At this level, we should just read it and let others interpret it! But when we justify ourselves, it’s like saying “he who feels dizzy blows his nose”, he says.
The president of the Election Commission, Henri Bouka, had estimated from Monday that the vote was valid, as the candidate Kolelas died after the vote. On the power side, we show our calm. Education Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso relies on the “provisions of Article 70”. “I am not the candidates who want to use their rights, not even in an abusive way. But it is the constitutional jury that will decide. There are no problems, he assures us.
The opposition has three days, from the processing of the preliminary results, to appeal.
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