Final Results

On Wednesday, the independent electoral commission announced the official results of the December 18-19 Constitutional referendum. It passed. “Yes” received 84.3% of the vote and national turnout was 62% of registered voters (15+ of 25 million). That means that nearly 50% of the registered voters (slightly fewer than 12.5 million) voted in favor of the Constitution.

Like almost everyone else in the country, I have not seen a copy of the Constitution, and only heard about some of its “highlights.” It changes the eligibility age for President from 35 to 30, which enables current President Joseph Kabila to run. My general understanding is that it establishes a more federalist system than is currently in place. It increases the number of provinces and gives more power to regional and local elected authorities (the equivalent of states and municipalities). Most importantly to people here, it means that parliamentary, presidential, and local elections will be held by the end of June 2006.