DRC election news, page-20

According to the article I posted today the attempt to form a united opposition to Kabila’s puppet candidate Shadary has just fractured. Tshisekedi is reported as being ahead in opposition opinion polls.Esh

“In what was seen as a major drive to give the traditionally fractured opposition a fighting chance in the upcoming polls, seven key DRC political leaders met earlier this month in the Swiss city of Geneva to select a joint candidate.

At the time, Felix Tshisekedi and Vital Kamerhe were seen as the likely figures to unite and lead the anti-Kabila front. But after several days of negotiations under the auspices of the Lamuka Coalition, the opposition heavyweights announced Martin Fayulu, a member of parliament with a lot of grassroots credibility in the capital, Kinshasa, as their alliance's flag-bearer.

Barely 24 hours later, this rare instance of opposition unity was shattered. Tshisekedi, son of the late opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, pulled out of the agreement after protests by his supporters in Kinshasa. Kamerhe followed him just a few hours later.

"The attempt to create a common platform with a joint candidate was, of course, very ambitious," says Berwouts, author of Congo's Violent Peace: Conflict and Struggle since the Great African War.

"The fact that two of the seven leaders who signed the agreement withdrew their signature 24 hours later was a major blow and affected the credibility of the opposition as such."

Still, the other members of the coalition have continued to support Fayulu's candidacy while also hoping to broaden their alliance by joining forces with civil society groups and working together with the influential Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, Kamerhe announced on Friday that he was throwing his support behind Tshishekedi, in a move that has created a second opposition bloc to Shadary's candidacy.

"This is the winning ticket," Kamerhe told reporters alongside Tshisekedi in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

An opinion poll last month showed Tshisekedi well ahead in the race, with 36 percent. Kamerhe (17 percent) and Shadary (16 percent) followed, while Fayulu's projected share of the vote stood at eight percent.”