More than 32 million Congolese voters are set the go to the polls on Monday to elect their president and national Members of Parliament for the next 5 years. after a campaign charged with claims and counterclaims, it’s time for the voices of the Congolese people to be heard.

Presidential candidate Vital Kamerhe held a meeting at Independence Square in Bukavu, South Kivu Province, on Monday. The president of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) told his many supporters in his hometown that if elected his priority will be “restoring state authority.”

19,497 candidates will be running for the November 28 parliamentary elections, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Friday during its weekly press briefing. Kinshasa has the largest number of candidates with 5734.

Former Speaker of the National Assembly Vital Kamerhe says President Kabila was not truthful about the state of the country on Wednesday, when he laid out his plans for the next five years, if reelected, in a speech broadcasted live on national television.

Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on November 28, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Pastor Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, announced during a news conference on Saturday in Kinshasa.

The amendments were approved during a joint session of the upper and the lower houses of parliament. Out of 504 voters, 485 voted for the amendments, 8 voted against and 11 abstained. As had been the case when the amendments were considered in the National Assembly and the Senate, opposition MPs and Senators boycotted the vote.

The Senate voted on Thursday on a bill that will amend the Constitution to limit presidential elections to just one round of voting and increase presidential powers. Of 81 senators present for the vote, 71 voted to proceed with the bill, with 1 voting against and 9 abstaining. Opposition boycotted the vote.

Upcoming elections and the 2011 budget will be the main points on the agendas of the National Assembly and the Senate when they convene for the September session on Wednesday.

There were no surprises at the Palais du Peuple on Saturday morning as elections results revealed that Evariste Boshab, from President Joseph Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Development (PPRD), had come ahead as the new speaker of the lower house of Parliament in polls held on Friday to replace its former officers.