The Congo: Tshombe's Election Campaign

As the head of a "government of public welfare," Moise Tshombe has ruled for eight months without the weight of a Parliament around his neck. What with the rebels in the northeast, nearly half the nation under a state of emergency, and much of the rest crippled by anarchy, he would probably be happy to continue governing by decree indefinitely. But African public opinion demands the trappings of democracy, and under the elaborate constitution drawn up last year, Tshombe must call elections before April 1. This week, barely two weeks before the deadline, they begin.

Conference in Luluabourg. Like a cowboy leading a stampede, Tshombe himself is running hardest and fastest. Hardly had he returned from Brussels last month, triumphantly displaying the former colonial government's long-promised portfolio of shares in the Congo's Belgian-owned industries, than he was racing to consolidate his success politically. Crowing that the "return of the portfolio" was the equivalent of political and economic independence —and the symbol of national dignity—Tshombe flew off for a conference with other political leaders in Luluabourg. The object was to form an electoral alliance that would carry him through to victory, give him if possible a majority in both the National Assembly and Senate. That takes some doing, since the Congo, as if to prove it can be more democratic than anybody, has no fewer than 221 political parties. At Luluabourg, 49 of them jumped on Tshombe's bandwagon.

In a sense, Tshombe is running alone. Except for President Joseph Kasavubu, who would hardly exchange the presidency for the insecure job of Premier, no other Congolese politician can project himself as a national figure. Two moderate regional leaders, Justin Bomboko and Elder Statesman Jean Bolikango, might like a crack at the premiership, but experts believe neither has enough votes to come close, and both will probably join a post-election coalition government with Tshombe.

Former Premier Cyrille Adoula, his own Radeco Party badly split and losing influence, refuses to leave his self-imposed exile in Rome to contest the elections. The far-leftists have not had a real leader since Patrice Lumumba, whose once powerful Mouvement National Congolais has been fragmented and dispersed. The most radical Lumumbist elements are leading the rebels —and have refused a challenge by Tshombe to lay down their arms and enter their own candidates at the polls.

Itinerant Polling. Still, Tshombe is taking no chances. The voting begins in heavily pro-Tshombe Elisabethville, then moves to Leopoldville, where both Kasavubu and Tshombe are popular, only reaches the rebel-infested northeastern Congo in the middle of April. By then, Tshombe hopes he will have piled up so many votes elsewhere that the northeastern tribes will go along too.

Elections are not easy in the Congo. To reach the 80% of the population, itinerant polling officers will have to haul the ballot boxes from hamlet to hamlet by pirogue and dugout canoe, or by land along elephant tracks, winding jungle paths and narrow bush trails. Moreover, the rebels have killed thousands of civil servants, producing a desperate shortage of trained administrators who could serve as polling officers.