Elections in sight

Some twenty-four million citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have registered to vote in the first nation-wide elections to be held in more than forty years. In the press to get the Congolese to the polls, donor nations and others in the international community must not neglect continuing efforts to establish the rule of law, freedom of expression, security, and good governance. Failure to progress in these areas may endanger the elections, risking the loss of everything thus far invested in restoring order in the Congo.