They continue, “This sample will be used, in the first phase, for field verification in order to ensure that the people in the CENI database are those found in the field.”
In a second phase, CENCO-ECC members intend to “bring back from the field another sample of people not included in the first sample for verification in the CENI database.”
CENCO-ECC members point out that in carrying out this work, “a transparency mechanism will be put in place to enable partners and CENI to ensure the accuracy and honesty of the results.”
“This electoral observation mission will also involve the political parties' electoral computer experts in this work, and the results will be transmitted to CENI,” they add.
On July 7, members of CENI in a plenary session rejected calls from opposition parties demanding an expertise of an independent international body in auditing the voter register finding it “illogical to undertake another external audit of the electoral roll without solid justification.”
On May 22, the five national and international experts recruited by CENI presented the conclusions of their audit of the voter register.
Out of more than 47 million voters, more than 3,300,000 had been removed from the register. This brings the total number of registered voters to 43,955,181, CENI said in a statement.
In their August 5 memo, CENCO-ECC members say, “By not inviting an independent international body to conduct an external audit of the electoral register, CENI has not helped the public perception of an independent and transparent verification.”
For the Church leaders, the current situation in the DRC characterized by war in the east and violent communal conflicts in the west and in several other areas of the country, “could lead to crises that would be difficult to manage if they were based on a certain crisis of legitimacy on the part of the leaders who will be elected in the December 2023 elections.”
On May 5, CENCO members called on the leadership of CENI to seek the expertise of “an independent body with experience” alongside “a few national experts” to audit the country’s voter register.
