In a hearing held the previous day, the competent authority indicated that the challenges to the two proposals were declared acceptable but baseless.
The lawyer Alphonse Ntambwe, who represents the candidate Félix Tshisekedi, the current president of the country, considers it a sterile debate because “in the end it is not known whether it is an electoral dispute or a debate about compound names.”
The politician Seth Kikuni requested the invalidity of Tshisekedi’s candidacy because in the 2018 presidential elections he ran under the name of Félix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, but for the time being, he presented himself “with another identity”, by using two nicknames instead of one: Félix Antoine, which is considered a violation of the principle of the immutability of the name. In Katumbi’s case, the question of having a nationality other than Congolese has come to the fore, which according to his lawyer, Hervé Diakiese, are completely unfounded claims.
The matter has been established judicially, he emphasized, “so that there is no longer any dispute about the Congolese nationality of Moïse Katumbi; now, at the highest level of Congolese jurisdiction, that issue is closed.
The Constitutional Court validated the 24 candidacies received by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) for the December 20 presidential elections.
He also gave the green light to the nomination of Joëlle Bile Batali, who was rejected by the CENI and had to present her documentation for review.
Currently, there is only one woman among those proposed, while 16 participated in the election as independents, and the rest correspond to political parties or groups.
After the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the electoral authority has until November 18 to adjust the corresponding details because the final lists of candidates must be published on that date.
The election campaign opens 24 hours after the official nomination, so those who are proposed have exactly one month for their actions.
