Kabila hints at seeking re-election

DRC President Joseph Kabila says he will leave office after the this month’s poll, but may seek re-election in the future. Kabila said he would remain in politics after the poll as ‘there is still a long journey ahead’. His presidential mandate ended in 2016, but he has stayed in office as elections were repeatedly delayed. BBC News reports that the election commission finally set 23 December as the election date, saying it had not been possible to hold the poll earlier because of difficulties in registering voters in a country with poor infrastructure and conflict in the mostly lawless eastern region. ‘We intend to make the elections as close to perfection as they can possibly be,’ Kabila told the Reuters news agency.