Although officially the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a democratically appointed president, the question of legitimacy is still raised. The last public election was held in 2011 where the incumbent President Joseph Kabila was re-elected. Kabila received 49% of the votes, with Etienne Tshisekedi receiving 32% and Vital Kamer with 7.7% (http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/drc-121011.html).
Public, democratic elections create an atmosphere of legitimacy by allowing the citizens of the DRC a say in their governmental officials. However, the results were questioned. Voter turnout was only 58% of the population. This would indicate that the general public does not have faith that the elections will be fair. Although this low voter turnout could also be attributed to the limited amount of voting locations.
The tabulation process proved to be problematic in 2011. The cities were not prepared for the voting process. This in turn produced methodology that cannot be seen as credible. It has been determined that about 7.6% of the votes were not counted, which means that roughly 1.6 million votes were excluded from this election (http://mg.co.za/article/2011-12-14-eu-discounts-chaotic-drc-election-results/). The runner up Tshisedkedi immediately questioned the final outcome of the vote, casting doubt on the system. Casting doubt upon the credibility of the election does not foster good feelings toward the elected government. This also perpetuates the cycle of feelings of distrust towards the government. If the population does not feel that their votes are correctly they will be less inclined to vote in public elections.
The question of the legitimacy of the elections that took place in the DRC in 2011 was also raised internationally. Belgium’s foreign minister refused to attend the official ceremony for Kabila. In regards to handling issues with the DRC many western governments follow Belgium due to it history with the DRC. However, Europe and the US have relatively little leverage over the happenings in the DRC as it possesses a large proportion of natural resources that the industrialized world needs (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16251401).
Although the legitimacy of the government has been called into question I believe that these elections are an important step in transforming the DRC from a weak state into a thriving one. Elections give the DRC’s population a say in their government. In promoting democracy this will increase the public’s awareness of international and national issues. Eventually, the public will ensure the transparency of elections.