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naraburns  nihil supernum  11mo ago (text post)   1450 thread views

Transnational Thursday for December 21, 2023

After thirty weeks as @Soriek's passion project, Transnational Thursday is getting added to the auto-post bot. But it hasn't been added to the bot yet, I think, so I'm posting it this week, with apologies to anyone whose plans I've mussed!

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Democratic Republic of Congo

The Congolese election has kicked off between incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi and like two dozen other dudes, though the most likely opposition candidate is the ex-Governor of the mineral rich Katanga province. Tshisekedi’s own ascension in 2019 was the DRC’s first peaceful transition of power so their democratic process is of course still fragile. Already things look pretty sketchy, whether due malfeasance or just the general chaos of the country:

Some 44 million people — almost half the population — were expected to vote, but many, including several million displaced by conflict in the vast country’s east, could struggle to cast ballots. The fighting prevented 1.5 million people from registering to vote…

A major concern is that ink on cards has smudged. That means voters could be turned away. In addition, the voter registration list hasn’t been properly audited.

Three hours after polls opened, over 31% of polling stations in main cities and towns were yet to open, with voting machines faulty in 45% of stations, according to Bishop Donatien Nshole, spokesman of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo and the Church of Christ in Congo observer mission, basing the figures on reports of around a fifth of its large network.

One polling station in the capital received voting devices less than two hours before polls were meant to close. Thousands of stations, particularly in remote areas, still might not have needed materials.

Results are predicted to take about a week to come out, so hopefully I should have them for you in the next Transnational Thursday. Most likely Tshisekedi will remain in power.

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