Congo polls need more euros

Pressure is mounting on the EU to meet a shortfall in the Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral budget, despite suspicions that previous donations have been misused.

Elections began on Sunday (30 July) with the first round of a presidential vote, but experts say that 35 million euro is needed to fund a possible second round, scheduled for October, along with parliamentary and local elections.

The EU is reluctant to provide further money, after investing heavily in the first vote and assigning 2,000 troops to watch over the elections. EU officials suspect some of the money already directed towards the electoral commission has been siphoned into the campaign accounts of presidential candidates, although they said there was no concrete proof of this yet.

The EU has provided around 80% of the €320m already pledged for the electoral process.

Efforts to limit the drain of money, by calling on the Congolese to provide half of the remaining shortfall, have so far come to nothing.

One EU diplomat described this as a"Cinderella syndrome". "For the moment it is difficult to get hold of anyone, they are all busy with electoral campaigns." One official said: "They are away trying to steal as much as possible."

But UN officials said that the money was needed for the elections to go ahead as planned, imperfections or not.

"We had originally planned $458m [€358m] for the whole process," said Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the UN in Congo. "Work is continuing to generate this money."

He said that the extra funds were needed because of a delay that prolonged the start date of the elections.

The UN has been trying for months to fill the gap in funding as it co-ordinates its biggest election to date. Twenty- four million Congolese are expected to vote and the poll involves around 50,000 voting stations across the country.

EU observers on the ground said that the vote had gone smoothly, despite 40 polling stations being burnt and rioting across the country.

One former UN official said that vigilance was needed given the amount of money that appeared to be spent on campaigning by the incumbent Joseph Kabila and other contenders.

"This is a difficult environment, but they should keep an eye on tax- payers' money," she said.

Diplomats said that they expected that the EU would have to step in once again to provide monetary assistance.

"The EU is in the position of an investor," said Richard Howitt, a UK Labour MEP who is one of almost 300 EU observers in the country. "It cannot let the process fail at this stage," he added.

The full results from the first round of voting in the presidential elections are expected on 31 August. If no contender wins 50% of the vote then a second round will be needed.

Pressure is mounting on the EU to meet a shortfall in the Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral budget, despite suspicions that previous donations have been misused.