ELECTORAL COMMISSION POSTPONES GUBERNATORIAL VOTE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000130

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL COMMISSION POSTPONES GUBERNATORIAL VOTE
IN DRC'S KASAI PROVINCES

REF: KINSHASA 102


1. (SBU) Summary: The DRC's Independent Electoral Commission
(CEI) January 26 postponed the scheduled January 27 election
for governors and vice governors in the two Kasai provinces
until February 10. The ruling followed challenges alleging
two prominent candidates possessed dual nationality in
violation of Congolese law. The case raises the delicate
question of dual nationality and could potentially affect
many of the DRC's newly-elected officials. End summary.


2. (SBU) Two members of President Kabila's Alliance for the
Presidential Majority (AMP) have demanded the
disqualification of the opposition Movement for the
Liberation of Congo (MLC) gubernatorial candidates in Eastern
and Western Kasai provinces for possessing dual nationality
in violation of Congolese law. Tresor Kapuku, the AMP
coalition candidate for governor of Western Kasai, introduced
formal allegations against his MLC rival, Alex Kande, in a
January 23 letter to the CEI provincial coordinator, charging
that Kande is a Belgian citizen and therefore should not be
allowed to run. Kapuku reportedly provided the CEI proof of
Kande's Belgian citizenship obtained from the Belgian
parliament's web site.


3. (U) On January 24, Lambert Mende, the national president
of the AMP-affiliated CCU political party and "rapporteur" of
the Transitional Senate, filed a similar complaint with
Western Kasai CEI officials. Mende's letter made the same
allegations against Kande and added similar charges against
Dominique Kanku, the outgoing governor of Eastern Kasai who
is running to retain the office.


4. (SBU) The national CEI responded to Kapuku's and Mende's
allegations in a January 25 letter from its 3rd Vice
President Crispin Kakonde, who is the delegate representing
the pro-Kabila PPRD on the Commission. Kakonde wrote to the
MLC and the national coordinator of Jean-Pierre Bemba's Union
for the Nation (UfN) alliance asking them to withdraw Kande's
and Kanku's names and replace them with different candidates.
CEI President Apollinaire Malu Malu was out of the country
when Kakonde wrote on behalf of the Commission.


5. (U) Kakonde's letter provoked a sharp response January 26
from the CEI's 1st Vice President Rose-Marie Mika, the MLC
representative. Mika wrote that the CEI is "not competent" to
address legal issues pertaining to candidacies and declared
that Kakonde's request was annulled. She noted that Kakonde
was unaware of information indicating Kande had relinquished
his Belgian citizenship in 2004.


6. (U) MLC and UfN officials declined to remove their
candidates' names and filed a petition with the Court of
Appeals in the Eastern Kasai capital of Mbuji-Mayi. The court
immediately ruled January 26 that Kanku's name would be
allowed to remain on the ballot and that the CEI decision to
invalidate his candidacy was annulled. Faced with these
responses, the CEI's executive board met late January 26 and
decided to postpone the gubernatorial elections in both Kasai
provinces until February 10 to allow further examination of
the issues and court ruling.


7. (SBU) The DRC's electoral law prohibits anyone without
Congolese nationality from running for office. The DRC's 2005
Constitution and 2004 Nationality Law both state that
Congolese nationality is "exclusive" and cannot be held
concurrently with another. Under Article 26 of the
nationality law, any Congolese national who acquires a
foreign nationality loses his or her Congolese nationality.
The nationality law's implicit intention was to prohibit
"Rwandans" from becoming Congolese citizens.


8. (SBU) Documents on the public website of "Le Moniteur
Belge" show Kande was granted naturalization January 14,
2003, and Kanku on April 4, 2003. It is unknown whether
either candidate renounced his Belgian citizenship after the
DRC's nationality law passed in 2004. Both Kande and Kanku
claim to have done so, but have not offered any evidence.


9. (SBU) The legal challenges themselves are not likely to
succeed, if only for technical reasons. Both Kande and Kanku
were elected July 30 as National Assembly deputies, and no
challenge was previously brought to question their
nationalities. Once elected, their mandates were validated by
the Supreme Court and the Assembly itself, again without

KINSHASA 00000130 002 OF 002


challenge. Finally, as MLC officials have pointed out, the
deadline for challenging any gubernatorial candidacy has long
passed.


10. (U) The attempted invalidation of Kande's and Kanku's
candidacies has sparked a heated and acrimonious debate in
Kinshasa. Many newspapers in the capital are seized with the
topic, with some going so far as to name elected officials
believed to hold dual nationalities. Other reports claimed as
many as one-third of National Assembly deputies may have
their seats revoked if their "true identities" are
discovered. Jose Makila, an MLC deputy recently elected
governor of Equateur province, told reporters January 31 he
supported the creation of a commission of inquiry to
investigate claims of Assembly members and other government
officials having dual nationality. The Assembly's leadership
has not commented publicly on the proposal.


11. (SBU) Comment: It has been an open secret for years that
many senior government officials from all parties possess
dual citizenship. No party has previously tried to disqualify
candidates from other parties, knowing full well that the
issue would boomerang on them. Mende and Kapuku have opened a
Pandora's Box that cannot be easily shut. It is not clear if
either was working independently or with the authorization of
the AMP leadership. In any case, all of the major parties
stand to lose if this issue moves to its logical conclusion.
End comment.
MEECE