Foreign Office response to congolese elections

I previously wrote to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to raise concerns which many of you contacted me about regarding the events in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have now received a reply on this issue.

Please see the full text of the reply below,

"Thank you for your letter on the 23 January, on behalf of your constituents, about the Democratic Republic of Congo.

While we are pleased that the majority of the Congolese electorate were able to cast their votes peacefully, we have concerns about the reports of irregularities, some serious, both in the run up to and throughout the electoral process. We now await the final reports of the observation missions. Some of their interim statements have strongly criticised the elections and the compilation of results in particular. However, none has yet judged that the overall result would have been different.

I was pleased that, following lobbying by the UK and others, the electoral commission (CENI) published the results from each polling station when the provisional results from the presidential elections were announced. This was vital to enable presidential candidates, political parties, civil society, the media, observer groups and the Congolese people to scrutinise the results. However, it is important that CENI identifies lessons learned in order to improve the election processes in time for the provisional elections, scheduled for later this year. We continue to urge the CENI to investigate all irregularities promptly and fairly, carry out a review of the electoral process, with international help and expertise, and implement any recommendations from that review or from observation missions. Similarly, we encourage anyone with evidence of electoral fraud to come forward.

CENI has requested technical assistance. We welcome this, and are in discussion with CENI and other key donors about the specific requirements and how we can best take the request forward.

Henry Bellingham MP
Minister for Africa, the UN, overseas territories and conflict issues”

If you would like to receive a hard copy of this response please do not hesitate to contact me.