Catholics In Congo Urged to Skip Vote

Church Leaders Say Fraud Allegations Must Be Addressed

Election workers for the upcoming July 30 vote check the list outside the electoral commission listing their assigned polling stations in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday July 24, 2006. (Michel Euler - AP)

KINSHASA, Congo, July 23 -- Powerful Catholic leaders in Congo's capital urged voters Sunday to boycott elections next week unless allegations of fraud were addressed, raising concerns about the country's first multiparty balloting in 40 years.

A statement from the Catholic hierarchy in Kinshasa read to worshipers in packed churches said confusion over the number of registered voters and the high number of spare printed ballots confirmed attempts to rig the July 30 vote.

"The members of the Episcopal Council invite the people, if these irregularities are not corrected, to abstain from the elections," the Rev. Leon de Saint Moulin told the congregation of St. Joseph's church, which has 800 members, to a burst of applause.

The country's influential Catholic bishops said Friday that the conditions for fair elections did not exist and warned that the church would not recognize their validity unless the concerns were addressed.

More than half of Congo's 60 million people are Catholics.

Congo's electoral commission, which is organizing the landmark vote with U.N. assistance, said the vote would go ahead.

Parishioners leaving St. Joseph's expressed support for the church's position and complained of irregularities by President Joseph Kabila and his backers.

"Everything has been positioned for Kabila to win," said Pierre-Celestin Mulumba-Lobo, 39, a state employee. "We already know the result, so it is pointless. We Catholics are going to abstain. . . . What type of elections will we have then? There will be a crisis of legitimacy."

But many residents of Kinshasa said they were eager to take part in a vote that will decide their country's future after years of war and chaos.

"I want to vote. It's important for me and for the country to have a leader elected by the people and not a rebel who comes to take power through arms," said Emmanuel Ekinyofon, 33.

In the eastern part of Congo, where militias continue to fight for control of mineral resources, the Catholic Church has told the faithful to support the elections. The contradictory positions reflected the confusion surrounding the vote in Congo, which is trying to emerge from a 1998-2003 civil war that left about 4 million people dead.

Rebels and renegade militias still terrorize civilians in many parts of the country, despite the presence of a 17,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force, the largest in the world. That adds to the daunting logistical challenges of holding elections in a country the size of Western Europe that lacks basic infrastructure.

International electoral observers have said that some of the accusations of irregularities were being used to undermine the validity of the balloting.

"We consider these to be extremely important elections. Congo plays a huge role in the stability of the region," said Colin Stewart, co-director of the Carter Center's Congo bureau.

Kabila, who assumed power after his father was assassinated in 2001, is facing 32 presidential challengers. More than 9,000 candidates are running for 500 National Assembly seats.