New coalition seeks an independent electoral commission

A coalition of opposition groups in the Republic of Congo has called for a new, independent electoral commission to administer parliamentary elections planned for 2007 and presidential elections in 2009. "If there is no consensus on an independent electoral commission that includes both the opposition and the government, then the opposition will not participate in the elections," said Saturnin Okabe, interim president of the opposition party Rassemblement pour la démocratie et le développment on Wednesday. His party is one of 21 political groups in the coalition, which is called the Front démocratique pour la commission électorale indépendante (FDCEI). According to a statement issued by the FDCEI on Tuesday, presidential and parliamentary elections in 2002 were fraught with irregularities. The government created a national electoral commission in 2005, but FDCEI maintained that it was biased. Government spokesman Alain Akoualat disagreed. "It is an organisation that in our opinion is composed of people of integrity who are capable of doing the job well for the benefit of the nation," he said. “This is not the moment to dissolve it." The coalition’s primary objective is to establish an independent commission to take charge of all aspects of running the elections. “We want elections that are fair and transparent,” said Emmanuel Bongouandza, an independent parliamentarian. The first step would be for the commission to conduct a reliable census in order to organise the electorate for voting, he said.