Human rights groups push for independent electoral commission

Four human rights NGOs in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, called on Wednesday for the establishment of an Independent National Electoral Commission "to guarantee transparency and credibility in future elections", PANA reported. In a memorandum on the election process, the Congolese League for Electoral Systems, the Congolese Human Rights Observatory, the Association for Human Rights and for the Prison Environment, as well as the National Human Rights Convention accused the government of violating the January 1992 electoral law by setting up an administrative voter's register to prepare for the elections. The electoral law provides for a supervisory committee to monitor and control all voting operations under the authority of the transitional parliament. Congolese Interior Minister Pierre Oba told diplomats at a recent meeting that the government-organised census was a purely administrative effort. No date for elections has been set.