interim report
EISA observer Mission to the DRC Constitutional Referendum, 18 and 19 December 2005 (continued)

On the whole, all the stakeholders whom the Mission met and with whom it exchanged views agreed with the fact that civic and voter education campaigns had very little impact. In the opinion of most of them, the people of the DRC are in a situation where they are called upon to judge a constitutional text that is virtually unknown to the majority of them.

2.4 The Referendum Poll

On the Referendum Days, the EISA teams visited a total of 163 polling stations. Based on their observations and views, the EISA Mission believes that the polling was generally free of major hindrances, even though some technical flaws were observed in the process. For example, the teams pinpointed the lack of standardisation in the voting procedure, as well as the inconsistent application of the CEI's guidelines in various polling stations.

The Mission would also like to mention the confusion created by the CEI's decision to extend the polling over two successive days. This decision affected negatively the organisation of the poll, not only in terms of the security of Referendum materials (ballot boxes and papers), but also in terms of the efficiency of the CEI staff deployed at polling stations.

As a result of the confusion generated by the CEI's ambiguous instructions, a number of voters arrived late at the polling stations at the end of the first day of voting. The CEI seemed also hesitant to adopt a final standpoint about this issue, as well as about the way the decision was to be conveyed to the personnel appointed at polling stations. The CEI must therefore establish a clear and well-coordinated strategy with regard to interaction and internal communication channels between its structures.

2.5 Voting Stations and Referendum Materials

Relevant laws stipulate that the CEI is responsible for determining the number of polling stations for the Constitutional Referendum. The Mission was informed that approximately 40 000 polling stations were established throughout the country, in about 9 500 voting centres. The Mission found these figures inadequate, especially when it takes into account the number of voters allocated to each polling station and the size of the country, which poses great challenges given the lack of effective logistical, communications and transport infrastructure. Nevertheless, the Mission would like to acknowledge and give credit to the tremendous efforts made by the CEI, with the assistance of MONUC, to distribute and deliver adequately the Referendum materials to all voting centres throughout the country.