Friday 9 December 2011

Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Local Matters

  • Facing a likely choice between accepting a democratically-dubious result and risking chaos by rejecting it, it is perhaps unsurprising that the international community has quietly declined to involve itself too deeply in the Democratic Republic of Congo's 2011 election
  • However, as politics gets closer to home, first with the election of Provincial Assembly members, then of local Mayors, administrators and council members, so issues of real salience to communities will come to the fore, and the risk of a series of brushfire local conflicts will become ever more acute. 
  • The international community should remain alert and engaged as the coming high-stakes local elections could be transformative.
http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/1112shepherd.pdf 

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