Martin Fayulu, an important member of the main opposition group Lamuka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, announced on Saturday that he will run in the upcoming presidential election.
He will be one of the top competitors against President Felix Tshisekedi. Tshisekedi won against Fayulu in the December 2018 vote and now aims for a second term. The largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa will hold elections on December 20 for president, national parliament, local government, and councils. Fayulu, speaking in Kinshasa, confirmed that he has been chosen as the candidate by the Lamuka coalition. He emphasized that we will persist in our efforts to make sure the election is fair and open.
Fayulu believes that the 2018 presidential election, where he came in a close second, was not fair. He wanted a re-examination of the list of eligible voters, but that didn’t happen. However, he assures that they will closely watch over the upcoming vote to ensure it’s fair. Fayulu’s political party, Engagement for Citizenship and Development, which is part of Lamuka, argues that the list of eligible voters is wrong. Because of this, they’re not putting forward candidates for the parliamentary, regional, and local elections. They claim that out of the 43.9 million registered voters, about 10 million are not real.
“This time, we won’t allow fraud. I won’t accept it,” said Fayulu, a 66-year-old who used to be a high-ranking leader at the big oil company ExxonMobil.
“We must stop this election fraud that’s being planned.”
Fayulu mentioned that although the opposition couldn’t get the list of eligible voters double-checked, their efforts made some things better. For example, the person in charge of overseeing the election agreed to show the results from each voting place to the public.
SOURCE:FRANCE24