DRC all set to go for polling amid Ebola outbreak

Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo are all set to exercise their franchise today, amid the country's worst Ebola outbreak that has taken the lives of more than 330 people in the eastern provinces of the country.

While voting is scheduled to commence for most provinces today, voters in Beni and Butembo in the North Kivu province will not be casting their vote until March 2019 due to the viral hemorrhagic fever, according to Al Jazeera who quoted the Commission Electorale Nationale Independante (CENI).

The incumbent President Joseph Kabila is stepping down after presiding over the country for 17 years. Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the candidate endorsed by Kabila is one of the 21 candidates who are in the Presidential race.

The nation is looking to a peaceful transition of power, as continuing conflict in provinces like North Kivu, Ituri and Kasai displaced over 1.7 million people in 2018.

This is a landmark vote for the country, as for the first time in its polling history, voting machines will be used.

Ethnic violence has increased notably in DRC in the run-up to the elections, with CENI also postponing voting in Yumbi (Bandundu province) to next year due to a recent conflict which left over 100 people dead in the region.