The International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) has stated that it is unable to carry out an external audit of the electoral register compiled by the electoral commission responsible for organizing the general elections scheduled for December 20 in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( ground floor) .

“The time allotted by your institution for the audit operation of the electoral register (from May 15 to 20) makes the realization of this exercise impossible”, wrote the director of cabinet of the secretary general of La Francophonie, Hervé Barraquand, in a letter sent Wednesday to the president of the Congolese National Independent Electoral Commission (Céni), Denis Kadima Kazadi, of which the Belga agency obtained a copy on Thursday.

"Drawing consequences from the foregoing, I bring to your attention that the OIF will unfortunately not be able to respond favorably to your request to support the Ceni in the audit of the electoral register", adds the collaborator of the Secretary General , the Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo.

The OIF had deployed a mission last week to assess the situation on the ground and examine the request sent to it by Mr. Kadima to carry out an external audit of the electoral register as during the elections of 2006, 2011 and 2018.

After this request from the Ceni, voices were raised in the DRC to oppose the external audit of the electoral register by the OIF for reasons of sovereignty.

For some political and civil society actors, "as the DRC is at odds with Rwanda, it cannot give up its electoral roll to an institution run by a Rwandan".

The DRC must organize on December 20 a presidential election, which will be coupled with the legislative ones as well as the elections of the provincial deputies and the municipal councillors. But the deadlines are starting to get very tight.