Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-281"
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"en.20051115.27.2-281"2
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Madam President, together with the whole of the international community, the Commission is monitoring the election process in the DRC and its organisation by the independent electoral commission very closely. I personally carried out a mission to monitor the registration of voters at the end of August of this year with a view to observing the conditions in which that registration was being carried out. Despite the poor state of the country’s infrastructure, the number of voters registered to date has exceeded 21 million. This figure is largely consistent with the demographic projections calculated on the basis of the last general population census, which is currently the most reliable statistical basis on which to work.
Voter registration is governed by a specific law establishing the conditions for registration on a voluntary basis. Furthermore, the electoral commission had taken steps to guarantee that all registration centres were treated in the same way and that no region or zone suffered from the late opening of a centre. To give you a quick idea of the great technical difficulty faced, I must tell you that it has been necessary to distribute more than 10 000 registration kits throughout Congolese territory, despite the fact that, in certain areas, there are no more tracks, there are no more roads, and that helicopters have had to be used. You can perhaps imagine, therefore, what a huge job it is.
Furthermore, in order to prevent any danger of double registration or mass fraud as far as possible – since the question mentions it – the electoral commission, with the endorsement of the international community, opted for voter registration on the basis of biometric data, the immediate issuing of the voter’s card, the daily posting of lists of registered voters in each registration office, the use of indelible ink and the cleaning up of voter lists on the basis of biometric data. The Commission is supporting the organisation of the electoral process by means of a substantial contribution of EUR 149 million via a trust fund managed by the United Nations development programme. In this regard, it is participating actively in the steering committee of the project supporting the electoral process, which monitors the activities managed by the electoral commission within the framework of the project.
With a view to guaranteeing that the elections are carried out in accordance with international standards, the Commission has just decided to send a mission of electoral observers whose work will begin from the constitutional referendum of 18 December and will continue until the end of the electoral process.
At this point, there is no reason to suspect that there is mass fraud in the organisation and conduct of the elections. Naturally, when I say ‘mass’, I would point out that this must be viewed within the context of 22 million registrations. This afternoon I have received figures that indicate that fraud has been noted, that some of it is deliberate, that in some cases it is not clear whether it is deliberate, and that mistakes have also been made. People who work on this type of registration are generally Congolese citizens who have been trained by the company that has provided the kits and, when millions of people are being registered, we must of course expect a percentage of purely technical errors and handling errors. When a mistake is made with a name, once the machine has registered it, it cannot be removed straight away. Nevertheless, work can be done at central level. It is there that any duplications among these 22 million or so people who are registered at the moment are going to be eliminated. We may therefore assume that, once these duplications have been dealt with, there will undoubtedly be around 21 to 22 million voters legally registered, with no duplications.
In the event that irregularities that are sufficiently serious to jeopardise the transparency, credibility and representativeness of the process are noted by the mission of electoral observers, in accordance with the provisions of the Cotonou Agreement, the Commission is prepared to hold an enhanced political dialogue with a view to identifying corrective measures. That is not the case at the moment, we are far from that. I shall give you the figures.
The results of the deduplication – to use that very inelegant term – for the operational area of Kinshasa have been presented today at the meeting of the technical committee on the electoral process. Of a total of 2 963 101 voters registered in Kinshasa, 150 000 cases of duplications have been identified. There are 18 587 cases of technical duplications – which is what I was just talking about, handling errors – 10 490 cases of fraud and 121 000 cases of potential fraud. The total number of duplications therefore represents around 5% of the total number of registered voters.
With regard to the percentage of fraudulent duplications, it should be borne in mind that, once a duplication has been identified, each case does not involve one person, but at least two. That is why, even when we add up the cases of fraud and cases of potential fraud, there will be 2% of fraud at the most amongst the total number of cases registered. The figures relating to cases of potential fraud will be made known during next week, as well as the result of the deduplication for Lower Congo. So everything is going to be cleaned up at central level and there should therefore be an entirely correct general electoral list, with no fraud, so that it will be possible in any event to say that this election, if it takes place, will be conducted on an entirely correct basis in terms of registered voters.
I have also been able to observe how it was working on the ground, and I must tell you that it was rather impressive. All of those people who were registering and who wanted to register, who were very happy to do so, effectively were being given the opportunity for the first time to enjoy a legal status in relation to their State. For the first time they received a voter’s card which, to a certain extent, also served as an identity card, which was something new for those people who had never had any real papers. All of this was very impressive to see and the fact that more than 22 million voters have been able to register under those conditions – it is not yet entirely complete, since there are a few days left – is a very great success, a success also for the international community and in particular for the European Union, which has worked very hard to support the process."@en1
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