To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to allow national and international election observers to observe the December general election in that country.
Answered on
15 November 2018
The British Government regularly calls for credible elections to take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, met with Foreign Minister She Okitundu in September and encouraged the DRC Government to ensure elections go ahead. The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, also met with Okitundu last month and highlighted the importance of allowing international election observers, in order to build transparency and trust in the electoral process. Since 2015, the UK has spent £6.8 million on increasing accountability and transparency around the elections. We have provided funding for national observation through the Justice and Peace Committee. The UK has funded a Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) report into the Electronic Voting Machines and the WFD provided a list of recommendations to CENI. The British Government will continue to call for independent observation for the December 2018 elections.