DRC: Presidential elections to be held on Dec. 23 – Kabila to step down

AP | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila is not running again in December’s long-delayed elections, easing concerns by the opposition and international community that he would try to stay in power.

Former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the ruling party’s permanent secretary, is the candidate for a newly formed coalition, government spokesman Lambert Mende announced Wednesday, as the DRC prepares for what would be its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power.

The announcement came just hours before the deadline for candidates to register.

Shadary will be the candidate for the Common Front for Congo, which was launched as a political platform in June. President Joseph Kabila is considered its moral authority, raising concerns that he will retain some control.

The announcement that Kabila will not run again will ease fears in the region and beyond that a Kabila candidacy would drag the country back into the civil wars of the turn of the century.

Kabila, in office since 2001, by law cannot run again after his mandate ended in late 2016.

Several opposition candidates, including former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba and the president of Congo’s largest opposition party Felix Tshisekedi, have also registered to run.

The general elections are set to be held on December 23.