“After four years of electoral inertia and in a stalled democratic process, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is
preparing its second set of democratic elections in a hurry and on a rolling calendar. Opposition parties are trying to
unite, thus far without success, and the international community is not in charge, as in effect it was the first time, in
2006. The Congolese authorities face a dilemma: respect the constitutional deadline and organise botched elections, or ignore that deadline and slide into a situation of unconstitutional
power. In both cases, the government’s legitimacy would be seriously questioned. The only way out of this Catch-22 situation is to both speed up preparations and negotiate a contingency electoral calendar and political agreement to manage an almost certainly necessary transition period. More attention must also be paid to putting in place essential measures for transparency and inclusiveness, as well as a security system that will ultimately require important UN help. If these steps are not taken, foreign partners should disengage lest they lend undeserved credibility to a fundamentally flawed process.”
