Presidential candidates in DR Congo made their final pitches to voters on Monday as campaigning officially ended in the vast and impoverished central African nation of 100 million people.
Forty-four million Congolese are registered to vote in Wednesday’s presidential, parliamentary, provincial and municipal elections.
The presidential race is a first-past-the-post vote, giving President Felix Tshisekedi, 60, who is seeking a second five-year term, a healthy chance of winning against a divided opposition.
With two days to go, several presidential candidates have withdrawn from the race, leaving 18 in addition to the incumbent.
Analysts say Moise Katumbi, a 58-year-old business magnate and former provincial governor, poses the strongest challenge to Tshisekedi.
Katumbi, campaigning in the southeastern mining town of Kipushi, asked supporters to keep a close eye on the voting process, “even if it requires sleeping on the spot”.
Among other leading opposition candidates is Martin Fayulu, 67, who says he was the true winner of the 2018 election that brought the president to power.
“Keep a close eye on the voting process, “even if it requires sleeping on the spot”.
Moise Katumbi
Denis Mukwege, a 68-year-old gynaecologist who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of rape victims, is also running for the top job.
Mukwege is well known and respected outside the Democratic Republic of Congo and has kept a low profile in recent days after a low-key campaign.
On Monday, he appealed to voters to pick him “to say ‘no’ to the incessant descent into hell” of the DRC.
He also shared his fears about the fairness of the vote.
Tshisekedi is also due to hold a final rally in a working-class district of the capital, Kinshasa, on Monday.
Dieu-Merci Nsilulu, 31, who was waiting in the crowd of thousands, said the president needed a second mandate to continue building the country.
“But that this time, he thinks of all parts of the population and not just those in cabinet,” Nsilulu said.
All the candidates have made similar promises: more jobs, an end to conflict in the east and more infrastructure.
The DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its huge reserves of gold, cobalt, copper and coltan.
It is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, crucial for making the batteries used in mobile phones and electric vehicles.
However, more than two thirds of people survive on under $2.15, according to the World Bank.
