Canadian delegation to monitor elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Thursday, November 24, 2011

The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) go to the polls on November 28 in a presidential election. In order to help monitor voting procedures, the National Conference of Congolese Bishops (CENCO) is deploying some 30,000 independent observers throughout the country. At the request of the Bishops of the DRC, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has agreed that a Bishop from Canada be part of a delegation from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. The CCODP delegates are joining other election observers this week in the province of Katanga.

The CCODP delegation includes: the Most Reverend Albert Thévenot, M.Afr., Bishop of Prince Albert; Mr. Denis Tougas, Coordinator for the African Great Lakes Region Issues Table, Entraide Missionnaire; Mr. Mouloud Idir, from the Vivre Ensemble sector of the Montreal-based Centre Justice et Foi; Ms. Myriam Larouche-Tremblay and Mr. Serge Blais, both from Development and Peace.