DRC Elections 2011 Watch: 1) Kabila picks up major endorsement of former Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga; 2) Jean-Pierre Bemba non-committal on Tshisekedi’s solo bid; and 3) Rumors rife in Kinshasa about postponement of elections

1) Kabila picks up major endorsement of former Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga

Former Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga

Chairman, Parti Lumumbiste Unifié (PALU)

Photo : John Bompengo/Radio Okapi

(Credits)

On Friday, October 7, Kabila picked up a major endorsement for his presidential bid by former Prime Minister, PALU chairman and formerpresidential candidate Antoine Gizenga, 86, a veteran politician. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, his party, the Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA), was an ally of Patrice Emery Lumumba’s Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). (More about Gizenga's biography on his Wikipedia page here.) The current Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, who replaced Gizenga, is also a PALU member and a nephew of the former PM. Gizenga hails from the southwestern province of Bandundu.

Gizenga made his announcement to a throng of PALU members at his residence in the Ngaliema Commune. On July 23, Gizenga announced that hisparty won’t be fielding any presidential candidate but “claimed to have sentfeelers for a project of “political agreement” (“entente”) with unnamedpartners. And if no one responds by some unspecified deadline to these feelers, Gizenga added, PALU ‘will shortly feel compelled to render public its project and to take responsibility for it.’”

In his endorsement, Gizenga said that Kabila was the only one among the presidential candidates to belong to the “nationalist Lumumbist movement,” adding, “he is the only one to have exposited a program with a leftist nationalist aimed mainly at the greatness of the nation, the preservation of unity and sovereignty of the people, [and] the improvement of the social conditions of the population.”

While Gizenga was making this announcement, it also transpired that one of his aides and former Minister to the Prime Minister GodefroidMayobo Mpwene Ngantien had escaped what is presented in the media as an“abortive attempt” on his life in Kenge, Bandundu Province, a constituency where he is running for MP.  According to his spokesman, Mayobo’s SUV was attacked by assailants belonging to an unnamed “candidate belonging to the [same] Left” as PALU, but “fortunately he was not on board the vehicle.”  After beating up the occupants of the SUV, the assailant reportedly told them that as Mayobo was a native of Kwilu, he had no right of running in Kenge. According to the provisional list of MPs released by CENI, the other major candidate belonging to Kabila’s group of parties running for a seat in Kenge is none other than PPRD stalwart, former Interior Minister and MP Théophile Mbemba Fundu di Luyindu.

Former Minister Godefroid Mayobo Mpwene Ngantien, MP candidate (PALU)

Photo: Radio Okapi

(Credits)

2) From his jail cell at Scheveningen  Prison Complex, Bemba non-committal on Tshisekedi’s solo bid  

Aimé Kilolo Musamba

Jean-Pierre Bemba’s counsel at the ICC

Aimé Kilolo Musamba, member of Jean-Pierre Bemba’s counsel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), issued, on Tuesday, October 4, issued the following communiqué on behalf of his client:

“The position of Senator Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, in relation to the choice of the opposition’s candidate in the upcoming presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the following:
 He calls on all candidates of the political opposition in the upcoming presidential elections to assume their responsibilities and unite around one sole candidate of the opposition.
 The latter should be designated by consensus, after consultations between senior leaders of the various interested political formations.
 As far as he is concerned, he will support the opposition’s common candidate who will be designated at the end of the process, whoever he happens to be.
 The Hague, October 4, 2011
For Senator Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo.
His counsel,
Aimé Kilolo Musamba”

3) CENI denies rumors rife in Kinshasa about postponement of elections

Matthieu Mpita

CENI Rapporteur

Photo: John Bompengo/Radio Okapi

(Credits)

Amid rumors of an unavoidable postponement of elections (due to logistical drawbacks), CENI Rapporteur Matthieu Mpita, at his press briefing on Friday, insisted that the elections will definitely be held on November 28.  He also confirmed however rumors alleging that the German company contracted to produce ballot boxes had finally declined and their production re-outsourced to China.