DRC fire destroys thousands of voting machines for presidential election
The governing party and leading opposition candidates have blamed each other for the blaze
An overnight warehouse fire in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), destroyed thousands of voting machines and ballot boxes due to be used in the country’s long-delayed December 23 presidential election, authorities said on Thursday. National electoral commission CENI said the blaze destroyed 8,000 of 10,368 voting machines due to be used in Kinshasa, but the election would go ahead as scheduled. CENI did not say who it believed was responsible for the fire — which broke out at about 2am in the Gombe riverside area of Kinshasa, where President Joseph Kabila lives — but the governing coalition and leading opposition candidates immediately traded accusations of blame. Kabila’s Common Front for Congo (FCC), which backs former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary in the presidential race, accused opposition candidate Martin Fayulu of inciting violence earlier this month. “Over the course of this electoral campaign, [Fayulu] called on his supporters and sym...
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