DR CONGO: Vote to replace Kabila ‘probably not possible’ in 2017

A vote to replace President Joseph Kabila will probably not be possible this year, president of Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission said in a move that will violate a deal that let Kabila stay on past the end of his mandate. “The parameters at our disposal give us, more or less, reason to think […]

A vote to replace President Joseph Kabila will probably not be possible this year, president of Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission said in a move that will violate a deal that let Kabila stay on past the end of his mandate.

“The parameters at our disposal give us, more or less, reason to think that, in December, it will probably not be possible to stick to that date,” commission president Corneille Nangaa said in an interview on France’s TV5Monde, referring to the year-end deadline.

Under the accord struck on December 31 between Kabila’s representatives and opposition leaders, Kabila, in power since 2001, is also barred from trying to change the constitution to stand for a third term.