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President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo has insinuated that he is not ready to let go of power by holding elections.
In a recent interview with German’s Spiegel Newspaper, Kabila said that he made no promises of holding presidential elections this year but the voter registration is going on smoothly and that he wants perfect elections.
“I promised nothing at all, I want to organize elections as quickly as possible. We want perfect elections, not just elections.” Kabila said.
Kabila also denied reports of a possible constitutional reform to allow him to run for a third term saying only a referendum can lead to that but he had no plans for it.
“I am very clear on this. All this blah blah on the constitution is total nonsense. So far, we have not started any debate on possible popular constitution,” he said.
“It depends on what you really mean by third term. We don’t intend to undermine the constitution anyway, and how can I have a third term without undermining the constitution?” he added.
The president joined residents in the capital Kinshasa to register in the controversial and uncertain presidential election.
The ongoing registration process kicked off early this year after elections slated for November 2016 failed to take place.
Kabila said the government was unable to meet the election deadline due to lack of resources.
A court later expanded the mandate of Kabila whose term ended in December last year. An agreement had to be reached after a series of protests from opposition that called for Kabila to step down.
In the brokered agreement, President Kabila promised not to alter the constitution for a third term. However, his government now says an election cannot take place without $1.8 billion needed to organize elections.
