Congo-Brazzaville: an election in a climate of mistrust
According to some observers, Congolese voters are more skeptical than in the 2016 election, notably because of a "weakening" of the opposition (illustrative image) AFP - EDUARDO SOTERAS
Text by: Florence Morice Follow
6 mins
This Friday, March 19 was the last day of the campaign before the presidential election in Congo-Brazzaville.
This Sunday 2.5 million voters are called to the polls.
The defense and security forces have already voted in advance on Wednesday.
The outgoing president, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, 77 years old and already 36 years cumulative at the head of the country, is running for a new mandate.
In front of him, 6 opponents.
While part of the opposition and civil society calls for a boycott.
An election marked by a climate of mistrust, against the backdrop of a political, economic and social crisis.
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In recent weeks Franck Nzila, human rights activist and activist within
the Progress movement
has crisscrossed the districts of the capital, to encourage young people to exercise their citizenship rights this Sunday.
Like other observers, he underlines the lack of enthusiasm aroused by the campaign which ends this Friday evening, in a country where the majority of the population is under 25 and has therefore only known in power. the outgoing president candidate Denis Sassou -Nguesso.
“
Congolese youth are tired of growing old with President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, with no other perspective for the future.
The vast majority of people we see in the field say to us
: "Sunday, I will stay at home. Why am I going to vote?"
They say to themselves that the election is decided in advance.
This is what worries us.
This does not mean, however, that they support the call for a boycott by part of the opposition.
They believe that the boycott plays into Sassou's game.
But this is the result of a global weariness vis-à-vis the entire political class.
There are many people who no longer believe in anything.
They are clearly desperate
.
"
Last February, the bishops of the Congo in
a critical message with regard to power
, warned of this climate of distrust of the population vis-à-vis their electoral system.
The episcopal conference itself has expressed "
serious reservations
" on the "
transparency of the ballot
", denouncing "
the evils which undermine electoral governance
", by pointing out in particular the shortcomings of the electoral register, when others express doubts. on the independence of the Electoral Commission headed by a personality who is also the first president of the Supreme Court.
To these criticisms, Roch Euloge Nzobo, the coordinator of the Circle of Human Rights and Development (CDHD) adds another explanation behind the disillusionment of part of the Congolese population: the "
weakening
" according to him of the opposition since the last presidential election.
“
In 2016 we had challengers who had a certain independence, a certain leeway.
General Mokoko had aroused a certain enthusiasm among the population because we still had the impression of having a democratic debate where everyone could express themselves and we could dream of alternation.
But today most of the challengers are either doing self-censorship
”.
While the Congolese are again invited to the polls this Sunday, two of the main candidates in the 2016 election are still in prison, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, and the opponent André Okombi Salissa.
To this context, underlines Roch Euloge, is added the arrest last week of
Doctor Alexandre Ibacka Dzabana
, one of the coordinators of the Congolese Platform of Human Rights and Democracy NGOs.
The authorities claim to have "
elements which indicate
" that this figure of civil society is "
at the heart of a network and a process of destabilization of institutions during the current electoral process
".
FIDH denounces an “
arbitrary and illegal
”
arrest
.
"
We are in a regime of terror intended to prevent people from expressing themselves freely,
" said Roch Euloge.
On the side of power, we brush aside these accusations with the back of the hand.
"
I do not know if we live in the same Congo
", wonders Juste Désiré Mondele, political advisor to President Sassou-Nguesso and his spokesperson for political questions for this campaign.
“
What is certain is that there is no political crisis.
The institutions are functioning normally.
There are all the layers which intervene today in the political debate.
There is a statute for the leader of the opposition.
We also have a Parliament which functions normally with an opposition parliamentary group.
So there is no political crisis in Congo.
"
Beyond political divisions, the weariness expressed during this campaign by part of the Congolese opinion, is also the result of the deep economic and social crisis that the country is going through.
"
Retiree pensions are no longer paid, student grants are no longer paid, hospitals are dying and the education system is increasingly corrupt
", deplores Roch Euloge Nzobo.
For nearly ten years, Congo-Brazzaville has been suffocated by the scale of its debt.
In July 2019, an agreement signed with the IMF raised hopes for improvement.
The IMF then accepted the principle of aid of 448 million dollars and released a first tranche.
But since December 2019, nothing.
The IMF has frozen its disbursements
on the grounds that Congo-Brazzaville has not respected the commitments made, in particular that of renegotiating its debt contracted with a series of oil traders.
"
The discussions are ongoing, the dialogue with the IMF is not broken and we are working on it
», Reassures Juste Désiré Mondele.
To explain the extent of their debt, the Congolese authorities regularly blame the sudden drop in the prices of petroleum products, recorded after 2014. But here again, the bishops have a different interpretation of the situation.
“
The economic crisis is also the result of bad governance, of corruption.
And this is what has exacerbated the social difficulties and the suffering of the people
”, estimates Brice Mackosso, head of the Justice and Peace Commission within the Episcopal Conference.
"
The bishops said it very well in their open letter of February
", he continues.
In response to this message, the Congolese government was surprised at the "
brutality of certain statements made by the bishops
" inviting them to remain in their "
apostolic and civic role
".
This week, the Episcopal Conference was
denied the right to observe
Sunday's
poll
.
And therefore to deploy the approximately 4,000 observers that the Church had trained for this purpose.
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