Internet shut as Congo votes, with Sassou Nguesso set to win
A general view of a ballot paper at a polling station before voting starts at the College D'enseignnement General Commune Makelekele, 1ER Arrondissement, in Brazzaville, Congo, on March 21, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Congo's Catholic Church episcopal conference has expressed "serious reservations" about the ballot's transparency and had said Sunday that it feared an internet shutdown.
Brazzaville
The Republic of Congo voted Sunday in a presidential election boycotted by the main opposition and attacked by critics as tilted towards veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Access to the internet and social media was cut hours before polls opened at 7am (0600 GMT), AFP correspondents said.
The 77-year-old Sassou Nguesso is widely expected to win against six contenders, led by economist Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who revealed Saturday that he is gravely ill with Covid-19.
Sassou Nguesso, a former paratrooper, first rose to power in 1979 and has since accumulated 36 years in office, making him one of the world's longest-serving leaders.
He is hoping for a first-round victory to secure a fourth term running the central African oil exporter.
‘Battling against death’
Meanwhile challenger Kolelas posted a video message from his sickbed, declaring he was "battling against death" after taking off a respiratory mask.
"Rise up as one person... I'm fighting on my deathbed, you too fight for your change," he urged supporters, saying the election is "about the future of your children", before replacing his mask.
A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Brazzaville, Congo, on March 21, 2021. The March 21, 2021 presidential election was boycotted by the main opposition and attacked by critics as tilted towards veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Kolelas, 60, tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday and is to be transferred to France on Sunday for treatment, his campaign manager Cyr Mayanda said.
The runner-up in the 2016 presidential election, Kolelas is the only major candidate remaining to face Nguesso.
Doubts and boycotts
Congo's Catholic Church episcopal conference has expressed "serious reservations" about the ballot's transparency and had said Sunday that it feared an internet shutdown.
About 50 organisations, including Internet Without Borders, had last week appealed to the president to "keep the internet open, accessible and safe during the whole of the 2021 presidential election period".
Unlike in the previous election in 2016, telephone communications were still available on Sunday.
The largest opposition group, the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy or UPADS, is boycotting the poll.
UPADS — the group of former president Pascal Lissouba, who died in France last August — is the only opposition party to have a parliamentary group in the current national assembly.
Oil reserves
Flanked by its giant neighbour the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, the former French colony has oil reserves and most of its budget comes from petroleum revenue.
But its economy is in a slump, hurt by a collapse in world crude oil prices, long-standing debt, and the pandemic, as well as being saddled with a reputation for corruption.
On the campaign trail, Sassou Nguesso has focused on agricultural development and portrayed himself as a defender of Congo's youth -- the average age of the population of five million is just 19, according to UN figures.
After first coming to power in 1979, Sassou Nguesso was forced to introduce multi-party elections in 1991 and was defeated at the ballot box a year later.
Republic of Congo incumbent president Denis Sassou-Nguesso, candidate for the presidential election waves at his supporters, at the end of his last campaign rally in Brazzaville, on March 19, 2021.
But he returned to power in 1997 following a prolonged civil war.
He has won every election since, which the opposition have mostly slammed as fraudulent.
A constitutional amendment in 2015, which ended a ban on presidential candidates aged over 70 and scrapped a two-term limit, allowed Sassou Nguesso to run again a year later.
Two rivals who contested the 2016 results — former army general Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and ex-minister Andre Okombi Salissa — were later jailed for 20 years, effectively side-lining the opposition.
