Free and fair elections

Here is a BBC photo from peaceful protests in Kinshasa yesterday:



From IRIN, a description of the march

The protests took place during Kofi Annan's visit to Kinshasa and were populated primarily by supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi, who may run in the presidential election scheduled for June.

The latter link has this explanation of the motives of the march:

"The aim of the march is to show the national and the international community the need for inclusivity of everyone if there is going to be peace and change," UDPS committee member Francois Beltchika told Reuters on the main boulevard.

Another complaint is that voter registration closed before they could register.

Why didn't they make the registration deadline?

Because Mr. Tshisekedi told his supporters not to support the election proceedings. Earlier in the process, several months ago, he was promoting a boycott to the election process and specifically the constitutional referendum. His primary concern: that granting Congolese citizenship to expats who had lived in the country for decades would constitute selling the country to foreigners.

So, unfortunately, many of the 'opposition' supporters did not weigh in on the constitutional referendum, and many did not register before the deadline. Now, Tshisekedi is trying to get more involved in the election process, though it is not clear that he will run for president.

And, his supporters are lobbying to reopen registration so that their votes can be counted, and the election can be termed free and fair.

EDIT: Apparently, there is discussion regarding extending the deadline for candidates to register as well.