KINSHASA, Congo – Congo's electoral commission says former Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a top opposition contender, cannot run in this year's presidential election because of a pending case at the International Criminal Court.
The overnight announcement came as the commission issued the list of candidates eligible to run in the long-delayed vote now set for December. President Joseph Kabila after almost two years of speculation and unrest has said he will step aside but has chosen a candidate for a recently formed coalition, and the opposition worries he will continue to assert his influence.
Bemba became a surprise presidential contender after ICC appeals judges in June acquitted him of war crimes committed by his Movement for the Liberation of Congo forces in neighboring Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003. He returned to the country early this month after more than a decade away and registered as a candidate the next day.
Congo's electoral commission, however, pointed out that another case is pending in which Bemba was convicted of interfering with witnesses. Bemba can appeal the decision and the final list of candidates is expected next month,
Congolese authorities recently blocked another top opposition contender, Moise Katumbi, from entering the country to register as a candidate.
Six major opposition parties, including those of Bemba and Katumbi and the largest party behind Felix Tshisekedi, recently said they were in talks about putting forward a joint candidate.
The opposition is up against Kabila's chosen candidate, former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary with the new Common Front for Congo coalition. He is among nine Congolese sanctioned by the European Union last year for obstructing the electoral process and related human rights violations.
Kabila's stepping aside has positioned one of Africa's most turbulent nations for what could be its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power. The 47-year-old became president in 2001 after the assassination of his father, former President Laurent Kabila, and by law cannot run again after his mandate ended in December 2016.
The United States was among those praising Kabila's decision to step aside but it warned that Congo's electoral commission must "take all steps necessary" to guarantee a free and fair vote.
Congo's government has blamed the election delay on the difficulties of organizing a vote in the vast country. The opposition and some in the international community, including the United States, are objecting to the planned use of electronic voting machines despite warnings from watchdog groups that transparency and credibility could suffer.
In response, Congo's government has declared it will fund the election itself.
Whoever wins the Dec. 23 vote takes over a vast country with trillions of dollars' worth of mineral wealth but with dozens of armed groups battling for a part of it. Millions of Congolese have been displaced by various internal conflicts.
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