Brazzaville – Congo Republic’s opposition has conditionally agreed to run against President Denis Sassou Nguesso in an election in March.
Congo’s veteran leader had ruled the oil-rich former French colony for 31 of the past 36 years in two separate spells and is widely expected to run in March and win comfortably, whether or not the opposition participates.
Opposition parties boycotted an October referendum on whether the president could legally seek a third consecutive term, a vote that Nguesso won by a landslide.
Some observers expected them to also refuse to participate in the March vote.
“We are working on the best strategy on behalf of our political family in order to win the presidential election,” Charles Zacharie Bowao, a former defence minister now in the opposition, said.
He added that the opposition, which in the past had suffered from internal divisions, had not yet decided whether they would present a single opposition candidate or several.
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The two main opposition alliances Initiative for Democracy in Congo and The Republic Front for the Respect of the Constitutional Order and Democratic Transition (FROCAD) will participate so long as there is an independent electoral commission and voter lists are reliable, among other conditions.
Congo Republic is deemed “not free” by U.S.-based democracy watchdog Freedom House.
Security forces fired on anti-government protesters during the October referendum, killing at least four people, while some opposition leaders were placed under house arrest by presidential guards.
The government said detentions were necessary to restore order and accused the opposition of planning an insurrection. (Reuters/NAN)