AMP CANDIDATES WIN KASAI GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000186

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: AMP CANDIDATES WIN KASAI GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS

REF: A. KINSHASA 130

B. KINSHASA 179


1. (U) Candidates aligned with President Kabila's Alliance
for the Presidential Majority (AMP) won the February 15
gubernatorial races in Western and Eastern Kasai provinces
over rivals from Jean-Pierre Bemba's Movement for the
Liberation of Congo (MLC) party. Transitional Vice Minister
of Budget Tresor Kapuku, from of Azarias Ruberwa's RCD party
but running as a member of the AMP, defeated the MLC's Alex
Kande 28 to 26 in Western Kasai. Businessman and diamond
dealer Alphonse Kasanji Ngoy won with 51 of 66 votes in
Eastern Kasai over the province's outgoing MLC governor
Dominique Kanku.


2. (U) The twin Kasai victories give the AMP coalition ten of
the DRC's eleven provincial governorships. The exception is
Bemba's home province of Equateur, which was won by an MLC
candidate. Both Kasais voted more than three-to-one in
Bemba's favor during the October 29 runoff election.
AMP-aligned candidates did not win a majority in either
province's provincial assemblies, although RCD candidates won
a significant number of seats in each province to swing the
balance. A post-provincial elections pact with Ruberwa
created an AMP-RCD coalition that was able to claim the
majority in both assemblies.


3. (U) The Kasai gubernatorial elections had been delayed
twice by the DRC's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI)
after charges were raised concerning the nationalities of
Kande and Kanku (ref A). Opponents had charged the two
candidates possessed dual citizenship making them ineligible
to run for elective office according to the DRC's
constitution and electoral law. Appellate courts upheld
Kande's and Kanku's candidacies, rejecting the CEI's call to
have the MLC replace both (ref B).


4. (SBU) Biographic information follows:

Tresor Kapuku

Tresor Kapuku, 41, was born in Kananga on November 18, 1965,
and holds a 1993 law degree from the University of
Lubumbashi. A long-time member of the Rally for Congolese
Democracy-Goma (RCD-G),he has served as the deputy secretary
general of the party's executive committee and has been the
president of party's Western Kasai branch since 1994. In 2003
he was named Vice Minister of International Cooperation in
the Transitional Government, and in 2004 was appointed Vice
Minister of Budget. He was elected as a deputy to the
National Assembly in July 2006.

Alphonse Kasanji Ngoy

Kasanji Ngoy, 43, is businessman and diamond dealer from the
Eastern Kasai capital Mbuji-Mayi. He is the president of the
Federation of Congolese Diamond Merchants (FECODI),a diamond
dealers association based in Mbuji-Mayi with branches
nationwide. An ethnic Luba from the Tshilenge area of Eastern
Kasai, in 2000 he reportedly sold a 265-carat diamond worth
nearly 20 million USD. He holds degrees in chemistry and
biology, and worked as a teacher before entering the diamond
business. He is considered one of the wealthiest people in
Mbuji-Mayi due to his interests in the diamond trade.
MEECE