Democratic Republic of Congo: Elections

(asked on 14th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the implications of the presidential election results in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for foreign policy and aid policies.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 28th January 2019

We note the provisional results announced by the electoral commission (CENI) and the decision made by the constitutional court to uphold this result. We remain concerned about the disparities with the polling conducted by the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO).

At the UN Security Council on 11 January, we called on CENCO and CENI to give further detail of their results data and analysis. We join the President of the AU Commission's call for all parties to preserve peace and urge restraint, and for all sides to respect the electoral process. It is crucial that the democratic will of the Congolese people is respected. No bilateral UK aid goes directly to the DRC Government.

The long-term policy implications of the DRC elections will be reviewed once the electoral process has completed. This is a critical moment for DRC and the wider region and we are monitoring the situation closely.

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