EISA gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support for this project from The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID-DRC) D.R. CONGO (DFID-Angola) THE 2005 CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN THE DRC LE RÉFÉRENDUM CONSTITUTIONNEL EN RDC Order from: [email protected] 18–19 DECEMBER 2005 ISBN 1-920095-56-X EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT No 21 9781920 095567 EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT i EISA OBSERVER MISSION THE 2005 CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN THE DRC 18–19 DECEMBER 2005 ii EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT iii EISA OBSERVER MISSION THE 2005 CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM IN THE DRC 18–19 DECEMBER 2005 2006 iv EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT Published by EISA 14 Park Rd, Richmond Johannesburg South Africa P O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel: 27 11 482 5495 Fax: 27 11 482 6163 Email: [email protected] www.eisa.org.za ISBN: 1-920095-56-X EISA 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of EISA. First published 2006 EISA’s mission is to strengthen electoral processes, good governance, human rights and democratic values through research, capacity building, advocacy and other targeted interventions. EISA Election Observer Mission Report, No. 21 EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT v CONTENTS Executive Summary vii Acknowledgements ix List of acronyms xi Terms of Reference xii 1. Historical Overview 1 Overview of the DRC’s political history 1 The ‘First Republic’ (June 1960-November 1965) 2 The ‘Second Republic’ (November 1965-April 1990) 3 Transition to democracy (April 1990- May 1997) 5 The Laurent Kabila regime 7 Recent political developments in the DRC 8 The Lusaka Cease-fire Agreement 8 The Inter-Congolese Dialogue 9 The transitional political dispensation 11 2. Legal and Institutional Framework for the DRC’s Constitutional Referendum 14 Constitutional and legal framework 14 Main features of the Draft Constitution 15 The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) 16 3. The Pre-Referendum Phase 19 Voter registration 19 Civic and voter education 21 The campaign and media coverage of the referendum process 23 Violence and political intimidation 24 International assistance to the electoral process 25 4. Referendum Day 27 Polling stations 27 Opening of polling stations and referendum material 29 Voters’ roll 30 Closing of polling stations 30 Voting staff and security personnel 31 Party agents and observers 32 Counting 33 vi EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT 5. The Post-Polling Phase 34 Voter turnout 34 Results of the DRC referendum 34 6. Conclusions and Recommendations 36 7. Appendices Appendix 1: Number of polling stations and liaison offices per province 38 Appendix 2: The 2005 DRC constitutional referendum: Voter turnout 41 Appendix 3: Composition of the EISA Observer Mission 53 Appendix 4: EISA Mission Arrival Statement 54 Appendix 5: Interim Statement by the EISA Observation Mission to the 2005 Constitutional Referendum in the DRC 57 Appendix 6: Schedule of briefing meetings in Kinshasa, DRC 70 Notes List of Tables Table 1: Vice-presidents and their portfolios 11 Table 2: Allocation of seats in the transitional parliament 13 Table 3: Total of registered voters per province (14 December 2005) 21 Table 4: The 2005 DRC constitutional referendum results 34 French version La Mission d’Observation de EISA: Le Référendum Constitutionnel en République Démocratique du Congo 18 –19 Décembre 2005 75 EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In line with its vision of promoting credible elections and democratic governance in Africa, EISA deployed an observer mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to observe the constitutional referendum held in that country on 18 and 19 December 2005. This report outlines the EISA Observer Mission’s assessment, findings and analysis of the referendum process in all its phases, specifically the pre-polling, polling and counting phases, as well as the post-referendum phase that includes the announcement of results. The mission was led by the Mauritius Electoral Supervisory Commission Chairperson Yusuf Aboobaker. It comprised 17 members, including representatives from electoral commissions and civil society organisations (CSOs) from Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Mission members began arriving in the DRC’s capital city, Kinshasa, on 11 December 2005. The mission held briefing sessions during which key election stakeholders addressed critical issues of the referendum process. EISA deployed seven teams throughout the country from 14-19 December 2005. These teams met with electoral stakeholders ahead of referendum day, including electoral officials and representatives of political parties, CSOs and the diplomatic community. During the two days of voting – Sunday 18 and Monday 19 December 2005 – the EISA teams visited a total of 48 voting centres and 163 voting stations, and were able to observe the vote counting. The mission secretariat continued to monitor post-polling activities, including the announcement of the results. The mission used the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC Region (PEMMO) as the basis for assessing the DRC’s 2005 constitutional referendum. PEMMO is the result of three years’ work by the Electoral Commissions Forum (ECF) of Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and EISA, in consultation with CSOs working in the field of elections. These election principles were adopted by SADC countries on 6 November 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa. viii EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT PEMMO outlines standards and good practices for the conduct and assessment of elections in the SADC region and has been applied for the assessment of all the elections that EISA has had the opportunity to observe in the region since April 2004. This report summarises the main observations and findings of the EISA Mission, and makes appropriate recommendations to relevant stakeholders in the DRC for further improvements. The report will be shared with all electoral stakeholders in the DRC, including the electoral commission (Commission Electorale Indépendante), political parties and CSOs. EISA will also disseminate its findings to government authorities, election management bodies and CSOs across the SADC region and the African continent so that positive lessons can be drawn from the Congolese experience. Based on the guidelines enshrined in the ECF/EISA PEMMO, the EISA Observer Mission concluded that voters in the DRC were afforded the opportunity to exercise their civic obligation in reasonable conditions. The mission also highlighted areas that need improvement before the upcoming national elections are held. EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The EISA Observer Mission to the 2005 Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) constitutional referendum was made possible through the support and collaboration of a number of people and institutions both inside and outside the DRC. EISA is grateful to all those who in one way or another contributed to the achievement of its observation objective. In particular, EISA would like to thank to the DRC’s electoral commission, Commission Electorale Indépendante, for inviting its team to observe the constitutional referendum. The EISA Observer Mission participants take this opportunity to thank, once again, the political parties, civil society organisations and individuals who agreed to meet with and brief them on the political context in which the constitutional referendum took place. The mission is indebted to the people of the DRC, not only for their legendary hospitality and support but also for their enthusiasm to share their opinions and views with EISA’s delegates on the referendum process in that country. EISA expresses its gratitude and appreciation to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Pretoria, South Africa, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and to the Swedish embassy in the DRC for their generous financial support which made the mission possible. The EISA field office staff in Kinshasa did an outstanding job in providing logistical support to the observer mission in the challenging DRC environment: EISA-DRC Country Director Vincent Tohbi and Programme Officer Hector Lubamba deserve special mention in this regard. x EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT The EISA Elections and Political Processes Department had overall responsibility for the mission. We would like to acknowledge the outstanding and professional contribution of all EISA staff under the coordination of Martinho Chachiua for the success of the mission. Finally, thanks go to the Election Processes Department of EISA as organisers and coordinators of the mission, and to Dieudonne Tshiyoyo and Martinho Chachiua. EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT xi Acronyms ABAKO Alliance des Bakongo AFDL Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaire ANC Armée Nationale Congolaise APEC Appui au Programme d’Education Civique AU African Union CEI Commission Electorale Indépendante CEREA Centre de Regroupement Africain CIAT Comité International d’Appui à la Transition CNS Sovereign National Conference CSO Civil society organisation CONACO Convention Nationale des Congolais DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo ECF Electoral