Presidential election campaigning began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Friday.
Frontrunners Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba square off for the second time on October 29 after a run-off election was called following July’s vote.
Then, incumbent President Joseph Kabila won 45% of the vote, just short of the 50% needed to be declared president. Former rebel leader and prime minister Jean-Pierre Bemba won 20%.
About 18 million Congolese voted in the country’s first democratic elections in more than 40 years in July. These elections will formally end a three-year transitional period after the end of a bloody five-year civil war in 2003 that killed an estimated three million people and involved about seven African armies.
The first vote was marred by gun battles between supporters of the two candidates in Kinshasa, leaving 23 dead and hundreds detained. But despite the violence and some logistical problems, the elections ran relatively smoothly.
The United Nations mission to the DRC (MONUC), the biggest peacekeeping force in the world, had 17 000 troops helping to secure the country during the first round of elections, which cost the international community as much as $400-million.
The UN, as well as a significantly smaller EU military contingent, has remained for the second round. — Sapa-dpa