This past Sunday I had the honour of bearing witness to the historical birth of the new truly Democratic Republic of Congo. After a 46 year struggle with dictatorship, povery, and war, the Congolese people finally claimed the chance to shape their own future. Although our team of observers noted numerous iregularities and difficulties in the process, these were clearly understood to be growing pains more so than fraud or manipulation. I should carefully premise my comments with the clause that I speak only for myself and not on behalf of the institution that invited me. It is especially important to keep in mind that I only observed 33 polling stations out of more than 49,000 all over this vast country. Truly, a full evaluation of this election should come from the whole of the observer community, and should be held in a conscious recognition of the complicating factors at play.

This was not an easy election to pull off. In a country roughly the size of Western Europe, with less than 200 kilometers of paved roads (most of them in Kinshasa), over 25 Million registered voters, 33 Presidential Candidates, 9,709 Legislative candidates, and 46 years without an election, this accomplishment is truly a piece of history. From what I understand this is the most complicted electoral assistance mission the UN has ever undertaken. The ballots were the largest electoral ballots in history. In the district I observed (Limete), the Legislative ballot had 851 candidates on it, spread over SIX (6) MASSIVE PAGES!! Try to imagine what the vote count was like...

We started the day at 4:00am with a light breakfast, and by 5:00 were at our headquarters where we divided off into communities with our supervisors and drivers. Though I was told that I would be teamed up with three Congolese National observers I never actually met them (if they ever even existed). My supervisor/driver took me to the voting centre in what can only be described as the worst vehicle in the world that by the grace of God alone somehow managed to get us through the treacherous maze of gigantic potholes and unmarked streets that is Kinshasa. As an illustration, the vehicle sounded like it made up its own prayers when it tried (and tried, and tried) to start, and the windshield had long ago been smashed, but was held together still by enough tape to keep it from caving in on me.

I arrived at the polling centre just after 6:30am, and none of the 33 polling stations therein had opened yet. I did a quick survey of the stations until one really caught my eye. As I peeked my head into one of the stations, the "president" (one of the five electoral officials' titles) had her hand in the ballot box, and was holding two or three ballots. The look of panic on her faced was matched only by her quick comment: "Oh! We (the polling station staff) just voted, we were just, uh, closing the ballot boxes." Uh, huh... I settled myself in to a nice seat by the window for an interesting day.

Ever the student that I am I spent the whole day carefully noting every major and minor event that took place. One of the most striking images that will stick with me for a long time was that of an elderly man, likely in his seventies, who proceeded through the polling station with the most composure and dignity I have ever seen deliberately applied. You could tell by his posture and his gait that this man was immensely proud of finally getting to vote for his country's government. As he approached the ballot box to drop the massive folded stack of ballot paper I noticed that his hand was quivering uncontrollably. I can only imagine what must have been going through this man's mind as he finally had a chance to participate in his and his children's future.

There were plenty of little vignettes like that that kept me reminded throughout the election day that what I was witnessing was something entirely new for the people here. It didn't matter that the polling station oficials were confused, and appeared poorly trained and poorly prepared; what I witnessed was a tremendous spirit and determination to take a positive step away from the pain of the past. and so, when we approached the twenty hour mark and the vote count was taking place by the light of a cheap electric lantern, I watched the utterly exhausted officials dilligently poring through the huge stacks of ballots, trying to reconcile the final vote count wth the numbers on the voters' list. As I sat there, equally exhausted (but fed, watered, and having had the chance to relieve myself), I too made a dilligent effort to take not of absolutely every little detail that I could.

My job, as I kept reminding myself, was to contribute to the determination of the legitimacy, fairness, and transparency of the process. When a ballot was incorrectly counted, or the electoral law was ignored by some genuinely well-intentioned improvisation, I took note, and made sure it went into my final report. Of course the process wasn't perfect, the Congolese people have never done this before. But without fail, what struck me over and over through the day was the sheer spirit and determination shown by those officials to make sure they did their job as best they could. And when the electoral commission gets the reports from the national and international observers I hope they can take our comments and reccomendations to heart, so that the next time around they can make the process that much more transparent, free, and fair.

...

I move now to the second phase of my time in the Congo, having bid farewell to most of the Winnipeg observer team. Today I moved in to a local hostel with John Derksen, his wife Nel, and Michael Mayen, all from Winnipeg. Tomorrow we will meet with our main contact for the rest of our project to sort out the details of what exactly we will be doing with our time. I am happy to report that our new home has internet access, and I hope to be able to report back here much more regularly.

-joel