Mr Corneille Nangaa, Head of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the commission required more than 16 months to organise the country’s presidential election.
Nangaa said this on Friday in Kinshasa while speaking during the publication of an observation report on the gubernatorial elections by the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace.
“We must start with registering new voters, an operation that is likely to take more than 16 months.
“In 2006 and 2011, this operation took 16 months, but since in 2016 we plan to register Congolese nationals in the diaspora, the operation could take longer than 16 months.
“We made a request to the UN and got a response through the Security Council Resolution No. 2277 which required the DR Congo government to organise elections within the constitutional timeline,” he said.
The second term of President Joseph Kabila will expire on Dec. 19, 2016.
However, CENI had said that it did not have necessary resources to organize presidential election, which would cost over 1 billion dollars.
Elsewhere, the Budget Minister, Michel Bongongo, had said that the government would disburse 30 million dollars to CENI at the end of April to facilitate its operations.
“Regardless of the difficulties we are facing, the government is determined to ensure CENI has the necessary means to organize these elections,” the minister said.