25 August 2018•Update: 25 August 2018
By Godfrey Olukya
ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo
Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba will no longer be able to run for the presidential election.
According to the list of presidential candidates announced on Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), 19 out of 25 candidates have been allowed to contest the poll on Dec. 23, 2018.
"The candidacy of Jean-Pierre Bemba was not upheld following his sentencing to one year in prison and a payment of €30,000 in fines by the International Criminal Court for bribing witnesses,'' said CENI's spokesman Jean-Pierre Kalamba in a statement.
He added that according to the country's law, once convicted for any offense one cannot contest presidential or national legislature elections.
The ICC had acquitted Bemba of some of the crimes including those of crimes against humanity.
Those whose applications have been declared inadmissible have 48 hours to contest the decision of CENI in the Constitutional Court.
