Five defeated opposition candidates in the Republic of the Congo’s recent presidential poll called on their compatriots to challenge the re-election of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso through “peaceful” and legal actions, according to a statement confirmed by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday.
Sassou Nguesso was declared the winner of the March 20 elections — held under a media blackout — extending his 32 years in power in a vote the opposition said was marked by “massive fraud.”
AFP on Saturday received confirmation that the rallying call was signed by runner-up Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas who received more than 15 percent of votes, third-place candidate Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko who polled nearly 14 percent, and candidates Claudine Munari, Andre Okombi Salissa and Pascal Tsaty Mabiala.
They called for a repeat of the “ville morte” (“dead city”) national strikes in which some Congolese have participated in recent months to protest Sassou Nguesso’s controversial bid for a third term.
In their statement, they also described the contested circumstances of the election in which Sassou Nguesso was named the winner with 60 percent of the votes just hours after the polls closed as “an abuse of power.”
“We urge the Congolese people to fully exercise their sovereignty over a democratic victory through elections recognized by law: Dead cities and other strikes, meetings and peaceful marches, until the verdict of the ballot boxes is respected,” they wrote.
They called for a first post-election strike to be held tomorrow, after the Easter holiday weekend.
The EU had refused to send observers to monitor the polls, saying conditions had not been met for a transparent and democratic vote.
On Saturday, French President Francois Hollande’s administration issued a statement saying the election results were “not credible” and denounced the lack of transparency in the electoral process in the former French colony.
Oil and timber-rich Republic of the Congo has been on edge since October last year’s constitutional referendum that ended a two-term limit on presidential mandates, allowing Sassou Nguesso, a 72-year-old former paratrooper colonel, to run for office again.
Critics accuse him of rampant corruption and nepotism, blasting the referendum result as a “constitutional coup.”
Government spokesman Thierry Moungalla told reporters that the opposition’s decision to contest the results in the nation’s constitutional court was “a responsible move,” but as for strikes or other mass actions he noted that the opposition had tried that after last year’s referendum without much success, adding that Congolese wanted wanted a return to “normal life.”
From tomorrow the Congolese Ministry of the Interior is to deposit official election results at the constitutional court which has 15 days to validate them and to hear challenges from the opposition.
Sassou Nguesso served as president from 1979 to 1992 and returned to power in 1997 following a civil war. He won two successive terms in 2002 and 2009, but both elections were contested by opposition parties.
The Republic of the Congo posted growth of 5 percent over the five years to 2014 but the vast majority of the population lives in abject poverty.
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