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The vote that nobody wins

Hugely expensive, massively complex, extremely dangerous, the polls will go ahead anyway

The first votes in Congo's long awaited election process are to be cast on 30 July. The polls, costing some US$500 million, are unlikely to bring the stability hoped for, since the losers may reject the results and the army, still unpaid, will have little incentive to remain disciplined. Many of these risks could have been reduced had the election schedule and structure been better designed and had the foreign funders - the European Union, United States and United Nations - not been so keen to rush for the door....

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The vote that nobody wins

Hugely expensive, massively complex, extremely dangerous, the polls will go ahead anyway

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