Congo Senate Bow To Protests, Drops Census Before 2016 Vote

Demonstrators burn tyres to set up barricades during a protest in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa

The Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday scrapped plans for a national census before the 2016 presidential elections, after four days of protests against a move that opposition leaders posit was aimed at extending President Joseph Kabila’s term. Reuters was there:

The opposition said a previous draft of the electoral law, approved by the lower house at the weekend, would have kept Kabila in power for years by delaying elections until a census could be held in the vast and impoverished central African country.

Kabila, who won a second five-year mandate at disputed elections in 2011, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term next year. With several long-standing African leaders facing looming term limits, the process is being closely watched across the continent.

Following protests in Kinshasa in which one rights group said at least 42 people were killed, the Senate modified the proposed law to say that any revision of the electoral list must respect the constitutional deadline for elections.