Congo election happening Dec. 23

So is democracy coming to the Congo at last? Don’t count on it. The regime’s choice for a successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, is a close colleague of Kabila’s with no independent support base of his own, so if elected he would faithfully serve Kabila’s interests.

President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, pictured on Oct. 27, 2007, with then U.S. president George W. Bush. Mr. Kabila is actually leaving the presidency after a mere 17 years in power. He hung on for two years past the scheduled election in 2016, offering a series of increasingly absurd reasons for the delay, but the election will actually be held on Dec. 23—and Kabila will not be a candidate. So two cheers for democracy in the DRC, writes Gwynne Dyer. Photograph courtesy of the White House

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

December 17, 2018

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