Even though there already has been an article on the elections in the DRC on our homepage, we want to publish also this article on the same topic, because it shows very precisely what does "democratic" election mean for the imperialists, especially in a country which is maltreated, bled out and violated as much as the Congo.
Following the definition of democracy as it is being told at school, by bourgeoisie media,... democracy is always good, no matter which kind of democracy or what it's contend is, no matter what it brings to the people (like fascist surveillance laws in European countries, fascist migration laws,...). It's only necessary to preserve the obligation to have elections like now in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
No matter how ridiculous the cheat at these elections was, no one questions the term democracy, it's just being criticized that there were huge cheating, but it is "still a democracy and that is good".
The elections in the DRC which were held on the 30th of December 2018, should already have taken place in 2016. The "President" was not confident with this so he changed the date. This gave him more time to assure that successor will be someone he favors. Just before the elections the government shut down the Internet and blocked certain radio signal which was not allowed. Furthermore shortly before the elections a fire broke out in a storage for electronic voting machines that destroyed a huge number of them.
Further it needs to be added, that almost the whole east of the country is since decades in war with millions dispersed. There the government has almost no influence, only foreign soldiers that legally occupy this land via an UN-mission together with these "counterpart", fascist mercenaries have.
The elections themselves were a topic that attracted international interest. The president of neighboring Ruanda who stands behind the fascist mercenaries in the east of DRC repeatedly demanded to hold the elections later. After the announcement of the official outcome of the elections the African Union said, that it is sure, that the result is not correct. The elections got mainly monitored by a huge billion $ heavy multinational monopolist big company, the Catholic Church. It also said that the result is wrong. Of course there was cheating, but how democratic is it when foreign countries intervene and recognize or don't recognize the result?
The people of the DRC that are suffering from Ebola and other deadly diseases, which are fleeing the war in the east, that are being exploited by multinational big companies had a choice. They could choose which degenerated person of the ruling class of their country that has never felt their problems will be the puppet for the old colonial powers that still rule their country. The president manipulated the elections but all the "opposition" candidates that repeated the imperialist lies of democracy or development are guilty the same, because they betrayed the people with repeating this lies.
There is and there has never been democracy for the people in the DRC. Let's just look back at the time, when the country gained "independence". The first prime minister got elected at this time, it was Patrice Lumumba. Although the elections where in their shape the most democratic ones the country has ever had, they never gave the natural resources and the political power to the people. Lumumba was a real democrat that recognized that development is only possible if the national wealth doesn't leave the country, so he nationalized the mines that were until than Belgian property. The answer was a military occupation by Belgium, the murder of Lumumba by the imperialists, decades of military dictatorship,... Democracy can be built up by the capture of power, by a revolution like in Russia or China, not as a gift of the "former" colonialists. The elections in the DRC showed obviously that they were not democratic at all, but even if the elections would have been „clean“, if there would not have been „cheatings“ at all, this doesn’t mean that there is freedom, ore "equality". There still would be imperialism ruling this oppressed country, there still would not be national freedom or independence.