Kinshasa — The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) opposition will be allowed to hold a Kinshasa rally on Friday to protest against voting machines they fear will permit fraud in December’s key election, an opposition official said. Political tensions are rising in the DRC before the long-delayed December 23 election to select a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who bowed to international pressure this year to step aside after nearly two decades in power. Kabila last month promised at the UN the vote would go ahead and that he would take steps to guarantee a credible ballot. But the months before he said he would step aside were marked by protests that were brutally repressed, costing dozens of lives. Critics worry Kabila is trying to ensure his favoured successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, a hardline former interior minister, faces no serious challenger. They fear the South Korean-made voting machines will allow fraud. Election officials say the machines will cut costs and ...
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