(ANS – Kinshasa) – Yesterday, 28 November 2011, about 30 million  Congolese electors went to the ballot box to choose the President of the Republic and the members of National Assembly for the next five years.  But the future of the country will depend in the first place on a change of conscience and of mentality, a task in which the Church and with it the Salesians have always been involved.
 
There are a large number of candidates in the elections: 11 for the Presidency and about 19,000 for the National Assembly (for 500 seats): in the capital,  Kinshasa, the electors will find a list of 56 pages of A3 format.

Voting yesterday was marred by some clashes between the supporters of the various factions, with dead and wounded, as had already happened during the election campaign. The most difficult  time however, will come on 6 December, when the results are due to be announced. Given that the main contenders have already declared victory in anticipation it is possible that the verdict of the ballot box may not be accepted by those who lose.

The Bishops of the country have repeatedly urged the Congolese people to accept the rules of democracy and avoid all forms of violence, basing the choice of the candidates on their social programme, and not on their tribe or pre-election gifts. The Bishop of Goma has even produced popular designs of the eight recommendations of the Bishops’ Conference.

At present  the Dem. Rep. Of the Congo is in a deep economic crisis. According to the 2011 Report on Human Development  of the United Nations Development  Programme (UNDP), whole possessing enormous riches, it is last in the list of 187 countries examined. And given the problems of the country and the circumstances in which elections are taking place  it would be  utopian to expect any radical change now whatever the outcome of the vote.

The Salesian community which has been present in the country for a hundred years however is not discouraged. “Especially since it is at these times that the Church has to show itself  ‘close in compassion’ to all those excluded, which are the large majority of the people,” they affirm.

But above all because so  much depends on education. Quoting an observer familiar with the situation of the Congo, the Pastor Kä Mana, the Salesians say: “When one considers what the Congo is suffering in its political system corrupted by destructive tribal conflicts , there are some things that obviously need to be done. The first: a school and university education based on an examination of our political ills and their consequences. There is a need to construct a Congo of reason and common sense through a new human formation that is profound and radical.” It is a question of continuing to follow the method of Don Bosco.

Published 29/11/2011