(5 minutes read)
· Republic of Congo went to polls on Sunday (yesterday) for electing the new president
· However, the main opposition party the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) –has boycotted the poll
· One of the main the main contenders and top among the opposition leaders Guy-Brice Parfait (61) Kolelas revealed that he was gravely ill after infected by Covid and would be transferred to France for treatment
· Some of the videos which went viral showed that he was wearing an oxygen mask.
Republic of Congo went to polls on Sunday (yesterday) for electing the new president. However, the main opposition party the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) –has boycotted the poll. To ensure a peaceful voting, internet was shut down. In the last elections held in March 2016, the internet was shut down completely.
President Denis Sassou Nguesso, the present incumbent has been in power for some 36 years. This time around also pollsters opine that the chances are lauded in favor of him, though opposition parties maintain that there is complete lack of transparency in the polling. While the UN and observers were allowed to monitor the poll proceedings, authorities refused to allow the powerful Catholic Episcopal top dictate their terms as to how to conduct the polls and to ensure ballot transparency.
One of the main contenders and top among the opposition leaders Guy-Brice Parfait (61) Kolelas revealed that he was gravely ill after being infected by Covid and would be transferred to France for treatment. Some of the videos which went viral showed him wearing an oxygen mask. Significantly, Kolelas came second in the 2016 election. The impact of his critical illness is still to be ascertained. The country so far had only 10,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began and 134 deaths, very low compared to many countries in the world.
Denis Sassou Nguesso, this time is pitching for putting agriculture in the forefront and in the election speeches he often referred to the various policies he would follow for agriculture development once he gets reelected. Congo is an oil producing country and most of its income comes from export of oil. Burt has only very limited capacity for oil refining with the result that the crude oil is mostly exported.
The other pitch of the current incumbent is programs for youth development and employment. In a country with a population of five million and a sizable percentage below 25 years, it makes sense to play up that card. However, it is still not known how people react to that since some of them consider that as mere election rhetoric. Last year (2020), the economy contracted by 6.8 percent. In the 2020 UN Human Development Index, a benchmark of poverty, the country ranked 175 out of 189 countries.
