STORY: DR Congo government opposes upcoming protest in Kinshasa
SHOOTING TIME: Dec. 26, 2023
DATELINE: Dec. 27, 2023
LENGTH: 0:01:43
LOCATION: Kinshasa
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE (French): PETER KAZADI, DRC Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
2. various of street views in Kinshasa

STORYLINE:

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) opposed the holding of a massive protest in Kinshasa, the country's capital, Wednesday by several opposition presidential candidates, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Peter Kazadi Tuesday.

Five presidential candidates announced last week to launch a massive protest in Kinshasa Wednesday to denounce the irregularities in the electoral process on Dec. 20 when as voters in the DRC cast their votes to elect a new president, members of the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies, as well as municipal councilors.

SOUNDBITE (French): PETER KAZADI, DRC Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
"We are engaged in a game with rules. We need to respect the rules till the end. I can reassure you, there will not be this march. It violates the legal provisions that the contestation of the (election) results takes place at the Constitutional Court."

Polling was officially extended to the following day as a large number of polling stations were not able to open due to the late arrival of voting materials and equipment. The extension was deemed against the electoral law and the Constitution by some presidential candidates.

"The irregularities sufficiently attest that on Dec. 20, 2023, it was a sham election, organized in violation of the fundamental right of the Congolese people", according to a statement by the five presidential candidates, including Martin Fayulu and Denis Mukwege, two main challengers in the race, who also demanded the protest Wednesday.

The government has been taking measures both at the level of the army and the police to preserve peace and security throughout the national territory. The population is called upon to remain calm and continue to calmly follow the publication of the election results, said Muyaya.

The protest would start from Triumphal Boulevard, where the parliament is located right next to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), in downtown Kinshasa. So far, none of the candidates initiating the protest has commented on Kazadi's remarks.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kinshasa.
(XHTV)