The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral authority says the country cannot hold a presidential vote before April 2019, a position that is likely to spark rage among opposition figures.
The country’s polls were initially scheduled to be conducted in November 2016, but the electoral body said it was not in a position to organize them, citing logistical challenges.
Opponents of President Joseph Kabila however took issue with that, accusing him of using delays in the vote as a way of clinging on to power.
The failure to conduct the vote in November sparked anti-Kabila protests in Kinshasa, in which dozens were killed as security forces moved in to quell that demonstrations.
Earlier this year, the electoral body said it had made progress in its preparations for the vote, announcing that it had begun registering voters in the much troubled Kasai region.
It said that the voter registration process would take about three months to complete.
The commission is expected to release a calendar for the presidential and other elections later this month.
President Kabila, who took power following the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila in 2001, has denied frustrating elections in order to stay on as president.
