Fading hopes

Hundreds of men, woman and even people in wheelchairs march down the main boulevard of Congo's capital, Kinshasa. They carry signs and banners and cheer for President Joseph Kabila.

It is campaign season in the Democratic Republic of Congo and on November 28, some 32 million voters will be asked to cast ballots for a new president and parliament. In a country as big as all of Western Europe, holding an election is major effort.

In addition, the fact that the country is dominated by jungle means usable roads, power lines and transportation connections can be rare. Some 64,000 election offices have been outfitted with 186,000 ballot boxes and 64 million ballot cards. In some cases, these have to be distributed via helicopter.

Fair and transparent?

Despite those efforts, Jean-Claude Katende from the Congolese human rights organization ASADHO is doubtful that a fair election will take place on Monday.

"The election is already far from free and fair," he said, adding that it was important to look at the entire election process, from registration to the actual balloting.

He claimed that irregularities already started appearing as early as the first voter registration drive, including the registration of minors and doubling names. On one voting list, 19,000 names had been listed twice.

"These examples make me very doubtful. The bias of the opposition and civil society against this vote has some legitimacy. Putting police at the polling station makes people fearful and they feel they can't vote like they want," he said.

Even things like money and transport for the opposition presidential candidates have proven problematic. For just under four weeks now, the 11 candidates have been doing their best to tour the country and get their messages out, but they are at a disadvantage compared to President Kabila.

His presidential jet can access regions others find it extremely difficult to get to.

"Kabila has, in many ways, ruled like his father Laurent and his predecessor Mobutu Sese Seko," said Thomas Wilson of the international think tank Control Risk. "He has used state money and other sources to buy off potential opponents and integrate them into the government. He has done nothing to encourage responsible and democratic governance."

When opposition candidate Vital Kamerhe tried to hold an election speech in his hometown Goma in eastern Congo, the electricity went out. Generators had to be brought in and soon rumors started that the government itself was guilty of turning out the lights.

The strongest opposition candidate, Etienne Tshisekedi, raised funds and obtained airplanes in South Africa for his campaign but on his return to Congo was refused permission to land.

Whether these incidents are more rumor or fact, the discrimination felt by opposition candidates has raised tensions overall.

'The fish rots from the head'

In comparison to current leader Kabila, Tshisekedi is an old hand at politics. At 79, he can boast a wealth of experience in the halls of power. Under dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, he served several terms as prime minister and even spent time in prison when he rebelled against the former strongman.

His party, the UDPS, is one of the oldest in Congo, social-democratic in character and claims to have taken up the cause of the people.

"The law has to finally apply to everyone," said Tshisekedi's political advisor Valentin Mubake. "We need a state based on the rule of law!"

Since independence in 1960, Congo has been plagued by corruption, human rights violations and wide-scale incidents of rape.

But it shouldn't be that way, Mubake said as he listed the riches the country possesses. It has 70 percent of the world's reserves of coltan and cassiterite, and the globe's biggest diamond deposits. Despite that, the United Nation's Development Index for 187 countries still puts Congo in last place. Life expectancy in the country is 48 years and the average annual income is $280 (210 euros).

"We have all the resources here, but the people are still poor," he said. "What are we lacking then? Congo's problem is the government leadership! There's an old saying here: the fish rots from the head."

These kinds of declarations from Tshisekedi's party have touched a nerve with a majority of Congolese - the poor, those who have lost out, and the masses who have no access to power and prosperity.

Disillusionment with the system

In one slum area just a stone's throw away from parliament, it stinks of raw sewage. Trash is strewn over unpaved streets. People here live in corrugated-iron shacks, shoulder to shoulder.

There are no toilets, no power lines, and no sewage system. Residents here have gone through 12 cholera outbreaks this year alone, said Thomas Mwanza-Mambi, a neighborhood leader.

"We have complained and asked for help," he said, adding that it has been a long time since any politician has come to see the problems for him or herself.

"We don't have a lot of hope and we're very tired of complaining and begging," he said. "We went to our local representative in parliament, but that got us nowhere. To this day he hasn't shown up to see if things are in order here."

People like Mwanza-Mambi are completely disillusioned and resigned to the dire situation. He won't vote, since like so many people in Congo, he has little hope that whoever is elected president will make much of a difference in his life or the lives of his neighbors.

Author: Simone Schlindwein / Dirke Köpp (jam)
Editor: Rob Mudge