KINSHASA: The president of Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral commission said on Saturday that he expects the presidential election, originally scheduled for November, to be delayed until December 2018, lawmakers present at a speech said. Patrick Muyaya, a national deputy, told Reuters that Corneille Nangaa had told delegates at ongoing multi-party talksthat the commission would finish updating the voter registry on July 31, 2017 and would require an additional 504 days to organise the vote. Clashes last week between protesters and security forces over allegations that President Joseph Kabila is deliberately delaying the poll to cling to power killed at least 50 people in the capital Kinshasa. Kabila denies he is behind the delay, which he says is due to logistical and budgetary constraints.
