DRC Poll: EU Cancels Election Observation Mission Over Technical Issues

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The European Union announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling its election observation mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, citing “technical” reasons.

The EU had stated that its election observers who had arrived in the DRC had been unable to “deploy across the country for security reasons”, making their mission “impossible”.

“Due to technical constraints beyond the EU’s control, we are forced to cancel the election observation mission,” said European Union diplomatic service spokeswoman Nabila Massrali in a statement released on Wednesday.

She added that essential telecommunications equipment had not been made available to the observers deployed in the country ahead of the December 20 polls.

“The EU encourages the DRC authorities and all stakeholders to continue their efforts to ensure that the Congolese people can fully exercise their legitimate political and civil rights in the forthcoming elections,” added the spokeswoman, quoted in the statement.