SADC wants DRC votes recount

Faced with the strong dispute surrounding the provisional results of the Congolese presidential election, SADC deemed it necessary on Sunday to “recount votes”. The organization also calls for the formation of a “government of national unity”.

The initiative comes from Edgar Lungu. At the head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) policy, defense and security body, Zambian President urges DRC political actors to “consider a political settlement negotiated “after the publication by the Ceni of provisional – contested – results of the presidential election of December 30.

“Taking note of the serious doubts expressed by the Roman Catholic Church – which had deployed more than 40,000 observers – but also by the Lamuka coalition and by other observers regarding the results of [presidential] elections in the DRC, the SADC believes a recount [votes] would reassure winners and losers, “reads a statement of the subregional organization dated Sunday, January 13.

Towards a “public recount” of votes?

Going even further, Christoph Vogel, a researcher and former member of the UN panel of experts on the DRC, believes that “given the many challenges, a public and transparent recount would be a crucial factor in giving credibility to the three elections – presidential, legislative and provincial – December 30 “. Especially since “even the SADC seems to have decided quite clearly on this point,” he adds.

For its part, the SADC also claims to have “urged the Congolese authorities to quickly dispel all [these] elements of doubt that could undermine the elections … and constitute a danger to the peace and stability of the country.”

    National unity governments have been very successful in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, “recalls Edgar Lungu

The political compromise to be sought would thus pass, according to Edgar Lungu, by the formation of a “government of national unity”.

 The Zambian president claims to have spoken to leaders of SADC and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (CIGLR), but also to the opponent Felix Tshisekedi, declared provisional winner of the presidential election, as well as to other Congolese stakeholders inside and outside the country.