DRC ELECTIONS: ELECTORAL COMMISSION ANNOUNCES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 001827 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS SUBJECT: DRC ELECTIONS: ELECTORAL COMMISSION ANNOUNCES PROVISIONAL RESULTS FOR PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY REF: KINSHASA 1788 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The pro-Kabila Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP) has won majorities in at least five of the DRC's eleven provincial assemblies, according to provisional figures announced December 1. The pro-Bemba Union for the Nation (UN) coalition has won control of at least two. Provincial assemblies will be seated in mid-December and are scheduled to select members of the national Senate, plus governors and vice governors, in January 2007. End summary. ¶2. (U) Provisional results announced by the DRC's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) December 1 show the pro-Kabila People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) won the most seats of any party in the October 29 provincial assembly elections, with 132. Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) came in second with 104 seats. Vice President Azarias Ruberwa's Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) came in third with 42 seats. ¶3. (SBU) The RCD's victories will have an impact on which coalition will ultimately control at least two provincial assemblies. Ruberwa had officially proclaimed his neutrality in the October 29 presidential race, and the RCD is aligned with neither the AMP nor the UN coalition. The RCD won seven and eight seats respectively in Western and Eastern Kasai provinces, where no party or coalition can yet claim a majority. It can control the balance of power in these two provinces. The RCD also won three seats in Bandundu province, where again there is no clear majority coalition. ¶4. (SBU) Based on current alliances, the pro-Kabila AMP coalition has won majorities in at least five provinces, all in eastern DRC: North Kivu, South Kivu, Orientale, Maniema and Katanga. It has pluralities in Eastern Kasai and Bandundu. It is currently even with the UN coalition in Western Kasai. ¶5. (SBU) Bemba's UN alliance has won majorities in two provinces, Kinshasa and Bas-Congo, both in western DRC. It will also likely claim a majority in Bemba's home province of Equateur, where the UN has claimed 49 of the assembly's 100 seats. ¶6. (U) Several parties aligned with Kabila's AMP fared well in provincial races. Minister of Regional Cooperation Mbusa Nyamwisi's Forces for Renewal coalition won 33 seats nationwide, mostly in the eastern provinces of Maniema, North Kivu and Orientale. Former Public Works Minister Jose Endundu's Christian Democrat Party (PDC) won 19 seats overall, 16 of which came in Bemba's home province of Equateur. Another AMP coalition party, Pierre Lumbi's Movement for Social Renewal, won 40 seats, primarily in Orientale. ¶7. (SBU) Other big winners in the July 30 legislative elections did not fare as well in provincial assembly voting. Antoine Gizenga's Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU) won 34 National Assembly seats, mostly in Bandundu and Kinshasa provinces, but won just 12 provincial seats, eight in Bandundu. Nzanga Mobutu came in fourth in the first-round presidential vote and his Union of Mobutuist Democrats (UDEMO) took nine seats in the National Assembly, but it won just five in the provincial contests. ¶8. (SBU) The eleven provincial assemblies are scheduled to convene December 18. An additional 58 provincial deputies will be added to the ranks of the 632 elected representatives following the installation of the assemblies. These new members will be self-selected from among the DRC's estimated 5,600 traditional chiefs ("chefs coutumiers") and will be proportionally distributed based on the number of registered voters per province. The addition of the "chefs coutumiers," scheduled to take place by the end of December, is mandated by the DRC's electoral law to provide a representational voice to the country's traditional community leaders. They could determine the governing majority in provinces with no current majorities. ¶9. (U) Once the traditional chiefs are included, the assemblies will indirectly elect Senators, governors and vice governors. Elections for the 108 national Senators is scheduled for January 7; those for the 11 governors and 11 vice governors for January 16. KINSHASA 00001827 002 OF 003 ¶10. (SBU) The following is a breakdown of provincial assembly results: -------------- BANDUNDU -------------- Bandundu's provincial assembly does not have a clear majority coalition based on known political alliances. Kabila's AMP has won at least 31 of the province's 77 seats, and Bemba's UN has won at least 27. The RCD has won three seats, and the remaining 16 have gone to unaffiliated parties or independent candidates. Gizenga's PALU won just eight seats in its home province; the party had won 25 seats from Bandundu in the National Assembly elections July 30. The MLC won 12 seats to the PPRD's eleven. -------------- BAS-CONGO -------------- The UN won a majority in Bas-Congo, taking 15 of 27 seats. The MLC won just five seats, but was helped through its alliance with smaller regional parties. The PPRD won four seats. -------------- EASTERN KASAI -------------- The AMP won a plurality in Eastern Kasai with 27 of the assembly's 61 seats. The UN won at least 16 seats, and the RCD eight. It is likely the AMP will have the majority since the UN coalition would need all ten unaffiliated seats, plus the RCD, to control the assembly. The PPRD won eleven seats to the MLC's six. -------------- EQUATEUR -------------- Equateur, Bemba's home province, was expected to be a clear victory for the UN coalition, but it won just 49 of the assembly's 100 seats, based on existing alliances. The PPRD won a total of eleven seats, and was helped by its partnership with former Public Works Minister Jose Endundu's Christian Democrat Party (PDC),which won 16. It is likely Equateur's provincial assembly will ultimately be controlled by the UN coalition. -------------- KATANGA -------------- The AMP had a clear majority in Katanga's provincial assembly, winning 56 of the 93 seats available. The UN took just nine seats, while 15 independents, the most of any province, were elected. The PPRD won 33 seats to the MLC's three. -------------- KINSHASA -------------- Kinshasa's provincial assembly will be controlled by Bemba's UN alliance, which won 27 of 44 seats. The MLC won half of the province's seats with 22, while the PPRD took eight. PALU won just two seats in Kinshasa, where it had won six seats in the National Assembly elections. -------------- MANIEMA -------------- The AMP has the majority in Maniema, controlling 15 of 22 seats, while the PPRD will have six. Bemba's UN alliance won just one seat in Maniema; none were won by the MLC. -------------- NORTH KIVU -------------- North Kivu's provincial assembly will also be controlled by the AMP, which won 25 of 38 seats. As expected, Bemba's UN did not fare well, winning just two seats. The PPRD has nine KINSHASA 00001827 003 OF 003 seats to one for the MLC. -------------- ORIENTALE -------------- The AMP has a majority in Orientale province, where it captured 51 of 88 seats. The PPRD won 21 seats and was helped through its alliance with Mbusa's Forces of Renewal party, which won eleven seats, and Lumbi's MSR, which won 12. The MLC took seven seats; the UN 14. -------------- SOUTH KIVU -------------- South Kivu's assembly will have an AMP-led majority. The pro-Kabila alliance won 28 of 33 seats, while Bemba's UN did not win even one. -------------- WESTERN KASAI -------------- There is no apparent majority in Western Kasai. The AMP and the UN coalitions have each won 17 of the 49 seats, and the RCD seven. Either coalition would therefore have to win over the remaining eight seats controlled by unaffiliated parties or independent candidates to claim a majority. The MLC won eleven seats to the PPRD's ten. MEECE