Invitation for a public debate on the state of democracy in DRCongo in line with Global Democracy Day

Commemorating the International Day of Democracy each 15 September: Democracy as a tool for Peace and Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo

In light with the International Day of Democracy, we have organized a Public Dialogue in Goma, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo focusing on the current state of Democracy as a tool to Peace and Development which this country need most.

DRC is at its fourth general elections yet elections are often the source of various forms of conflicts including wars, each time when there is elections we often observe the creation of rebel group and the recent is the current AFC/M23 which is fighting in North Kivu backed by Rwanda claiming that elections were rigged by the people in power. Questions are still to be asked if it is legitimate to take guns against your country because elections were not free and fair?

However, we need to embark on this debate our the state of our democracy and agree on which kind of reforms we should bring on board, and in this time Democracy should be a tool for peace and development two things which the country needs urgently.

While Democracy is not only elections but also all forms of freedoms, good governance, and quality leadership among others, democracy is about proposing another way of accessing power from bottom to up and a strong leadership that may incarnate the aspirations of the people.

The current situation of Democracy in DRC is not encouraging, at community level it is almost impossible to enjoy democracy, and opportunities for elections in order to access power at the community were mostly affected and people are holding power without elections, this has often created frustrations and caused violence and conflicts, it was also that elections are no longer the tool in order to access to power among various associations, organizations, groups, public institutions, Civil Societies, Religious Groups, Schools, Academic Institutions, Private Sector and political parties, generally the culture of being nominated is mostly applied which has highly affected the quality leadership in the country.

In order to restore the situation and bring back the basic democratic principles, our Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy COCCIDE launches the very first debate on democracy in North Kivu.

The only one purpose is to vivify the debate about democracy in order to reduce the culture of nomination,

The result is to encourage people to seek for reforms and encourage leaders to access power through popular elections at all level and respect democratic principles,