- Congo's Constitutional Court late Monday backed the electoral commission's decision to bar Bemba as a presidential candidate in December's long-delayed election because of a pending case at the International Criminal Court.
- Bemba threw his hat into the ring 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.
- Bemba's party has appealed to the Constitutional Court and had urged it to do the right thing "despite evident political pressures."
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Jean-Pierre Bemba's presidential ambitions to succeed Kabila hits a snag
Bemba's party has appealed to the Constitutional Court and had urged it to do the right thing "despite evident political pressures."
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Former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a top opposition figure, presidential ambitions to succeed President Joseph Kabila have hit a snag.
Congo's Constitutional Court late Monday backed the electoral commission's decision to bar Bemba as a presidential candidate in December's long-delayed election because of a pending case at the International Criminal Court.
Bemba threw his hat into the ring 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 Congo last month after more than a decade away.
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The electoral commission, however, pointed out the pending case in which he was convicted of interfering with witnesses, calling it synonymous with corruption. Congolese law prevents people convicted of corruption from running for the presidency.
According to Bemba, the electoral commission rejected him because six major opposition parties had earlier been discussing a possible joint candidate and that "it was likely that he would have been picked as the opposition’s candidate."
Opposition parties have accused President Joseph Kabila's government of blocking some top candidates from running.
Congolese authorities also blocked another top and popular opposition contender, Moise Katumbi, from entering the country to register as a candidate.
Felix Tshisekedi, the candidate for Congo's largest opposition party, however, remains eligible to run.
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Despite, Kabila after almost two years of speculation and unrest announcing that he won’t be running and that he will step aside, but the opposition fear that he will continue to assert his influence long after leaving office.
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.
The final list of presidential candidates is expected on Sept. 19 as one of Africa's most turbulent nations faces what could be its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power.
Whoever wins the Dec. 23 vote takes over one of the richest nations on earth with vast mineral resources worth trillions of dollars' but in constant instability caused by dozens of armed groups who battling for get a piece of it.
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