07 05 11 Eurac – DRC elections: Increase citizen ownership through civic education and election observation
EurAc, the advocacy
network of European NGOs for Central Africa, has always supported elections in
Congo in its lobbying, and it
contributed to the free and transparent character of the 2006 elections by
sending two teams of 120 international observers who worked together with the
activists and members of partner associations from Congolese civil
society.
There has been much
activity in recent months, including a revision of the Constitution. While the
parliamentary majority argued that the revision was necessary for financial
reasons and as a means of helping to form more stable coalition in the new
legislature, the opposition objected on the grounds that this was essentially a
strategy for shutting down political space in order to increase the incumbent’s
chances for re-election. The democratic and transparent character of the
forthcoming elections will depend on a number of issues being clarified,
including:
– the independence of the
CENI
– the contents of the
electoral law and the way in which the revision takes
shape
– the setting up and work
of the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel
– security around the
elections and the degree to which the opposition is free to travel and to run
its campaign
– the independence of the
Constitutional
Court
Our visits to the field
cause us to fear that the people will not be effectively mobilised for these
elections. They do not really feel concerned about them, having been
disappointed by the minimal effect of the results of the 2006 elections on their
everyday lives. People will certainly go and register. In a country where
official identity documents have not been issued for many years, a voting card
is an important document. It is our fear, however, that a large percentage of
the electorate will not see any reason to vote, given the disappointment after
the 2006 elections in which they took part very
enthusiastically.
Le Congo ne sortira jamais
de la précarité si l’Etat congolais n’est pas renforcé, y compris dans ses
instruments pour garantir l’Etat de droit et la bonne gouvernance.
The Congo
will remain fragile unless the state is strengthened, including its instruments
to guarantee rule of law and good governance. The elections can only contribute
to this strengthening if there is a massive participation by citizens, giving
the results a strong legitimacy and giving a strong mandate to the institutions
whose members have been elected. All this will not happen without educating and
raising the awareness of the electorate so that citizens can demand a new
culture of governance, question state representatives and oblige them to be open
and to justify their actions.
The complexity of the
democratic process and its related concepts, plus the fact that democracy in the
Congo is still at an embryonic stage, will require that civil society should be
actively involved in providing education about civic rights and
participatory governance. We believe that the whole of civil society (churches,
NGOs, trade unions, women’s movements, media etc.) is a key player because of its proximity to
the people. There are several Congolese organisations which specialise in civic
education and which try to do what they can, but the crying lack of means with
which to run effective electoral education programmes for the masses hampers
their noble ambition. We believe that the involvement of the grass roots in the
process will help ensure security around the elections, reduce the risk of
malpractice during the elections and make
it easier to accept the results if there is a free and transparent electoral
cycle.
It is vital for donor
agencies to increase their support for civic education but civil society
organisations, which, being on the ground and having the necessary skills, can
play a complementary and unique role in accompanying the elections and in
mobilising citizens to take part. This would increase the legitimacy and
transparency of the process. The donors should coordinate their efforts better
to provide extra financial support to different ways of strengthening the
capacity of existing civil society organisations e.g. the Civil Society Fund
(Fonds de la Société Civile –
FSC).
Underlining the
importance of citizens’ participation in the democratisation process, EurAc
makes the following recommendations to the European Union and its member
states:
1) Using flexible methods to
enable work on the
ground to be effective, urgently support and finance civil society in its role of raising popular
awareness through civic and electoral education to be provided by Congolese
organisations in collaboration with international
NGOs.
2) To take part in a regular
dialogue with civil society; to work through diplomatic channels to protect
human rights defenders and ensure the implementation of the EU Guidelines on the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders, in coordination with other international
partners.
3) To establish and support
the independent observation of the elections involving official and
non-governmental bodies, including Congolese civil society organisations. EurAc
fails to understand the four MEPs’ recent lobbying of Catherine Ashton, EU High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, calling for the EU
electoral observation mission in the DRC to be cancelled. On the contrary, our view is
that the EU must contribute to elections being organised correctly, including by
having a presence on the ground. Effective electoral observation is an essential
part of the process for consolidating peace in the Congo,
to which the EU and member states have already invested a great
deal.
4) Having so far failed to
call for the electoral process to take place in a logical order, starting at the
grassroots, with the local elections and working upwards, the EU should now make
a strong commitment to the entire electoral cycle and invest the necessary means
(political will as well as funding). The quality of democracy not only depends
on presidential elections but equally on legislative, provincial and local
elections.
For
further details:
Kris
Berwouts
Rue
des Tanneurs, 165 B – 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel:
+32 (0)2 213 04 000
@:
kris.berwouts@eurac-network.org