Satan, exorcism and magic T-shirts – our favourite rumours from DRC presidential poll
"I've voted, check out my indelible ink" - Voter at Institut De La Gombe in Kinshasa
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa is a rumour mill. No more so that during the country’s 2011 presidential elections. The Congolese are sometimes superstitious, at times moralistic and always feverish in their chatter about the latest rumour. This has only been amplified by the country’s polls. Here’s a collection of RFI’s favourite election rumours.
UDPS party says five provinces secured in DRC elections
A burnt out jeep on Avenue Munene outside the Ecole Dyavanga polling station, Kinshasa, 29 November
As votes are tallied and counted in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential elections the main opposition UDPS party told RFI on Tuesday that despite fraud they are confident of securing victory. Etienne Tshisekedi’s party says they have secured enough for a majority and do not want to see the vote annulled.
Q&A: Ferdinand Nkashama, Secretary of the Election Surveillance Commission, UDPS
Q&A: Justin, Militant, UDPS
Voting chaos and pockets of violence mar DRC elections
Voters searching for their names on the voter list in Matete, Kinshasa
Missing ballot papers and problems with voter lists kicked off the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential elections on Monday, with scattered pockets of violence throughout the country. RFI visited polling stations in Kinshasa, where frustrations ran high.
Q&A: Dominique Struye, Belgium’s Ambassador to DRC
Q&A: John Stremlau, Election Observer, Carter Center
Calm before the storm? DRC goes to the polls
Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo go to the polls on Monday in the country’s second election since civil war. Kinshasa had returned to calm on Sunday after a standoff at the capital’s international airport and violence that left up to eight people dead. The DRC’s electoral commission chief has once again said everything will be ready in time.
Q&A: Malefetsane Nkhahle, SADC ECF
DRC election challenger in campaign rally airport standoff
Security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo blocked incumbent President Joseph Kabila’s main challenger on Saturday at the capital’s international airport ahead of the country’s presidential elections. Etienne Tshisekedi and his UDPS party supporters were stopped by police after Kinshasa’s governor André Kimbuta Yango banned campaigning following violence.
Report: DRC election – Campaigning cancelled
Watching the Detective
Police ready for action at the Occupy France protest at La Défense, Paris
From the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, this year we’ve seen the huge role social media and mobile communications play in helping people share information, photos and videos of major events with the rest of the world. It’s a new and exciting wave of front line reporting, but it’s also been raising bigger questions about how we can judge whether we’re getting the full story. The French website Copwatch posts photos and detailed personal information about police officers, and as a result it’s been ordered down by law. But it keeps springing back up.
Report: Copwatch, CBC Spark
Police ban rallies in DRC as violence erupts on final day of campaigning
With just two days two days left until voters go to the polls in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential elections, police in Kinshasa have banned campaign rallies. This follows the death of a man near the airport where thousands of people had gathered to meet the election’s main rivals, Joseph Kabila and Etienne Tshisekedi.
custom-made radio 