Congo’s opponent Kolelas dies of COVID-19 a day after elections

Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, leading opposition administrative candidate in the Republic of Congo’s election, died on Sunday, a day after the nation went to the polls.

22nd of March 2021

Congo: Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, leading opposition administrative candidate in the Republic of Congo’s election, died on Sunday, a day after the nation went to the polls.

Kolelas was admitted to the hospital on the eve of the elections and died of coronavirus. As Kolelas was being taken to France for illness’s treatment, his campaign director Christian Cyr Rodrigue Mayanda informed the AFP news agency on the previous Monday.

He was the leading opposition presidential candidate in the Republic of Congo elections and the main rival of long-standing President Denis Sassou N’Guesso, who was expecting a new five-year term in Sunday’s vote.

Kolelas’s operation Manager stated, “We will continue to add the tags. He was first in several places.”

A Journalist Mugo Mugo tweeted, “#Congo Presidential candidates hold final campaign rallies in #Brazzaville ahead of Sunday polls. Pres. Dennis N’guesso #DSN2021 seeking to extend his 36yrs rule. Opposition candidates rallies include Guy-Brice Parfait #Kolélas and Mathias #Dzon.”

According to several news channels, In a video that circulated all over social media, 61-year-old Kolelas, who was diabetic, could be seen briefly removing an oxygen mask to assure his supporters that he is “fighting death.”

In that video, “Breathing heavily and holding an oxygen mask next to his face, he said he was “battling against death” but urged Congolese to “go vote for change.

Provisional election’s results are not anticipated for days, but the chances of Sassou Nguesso is widely supposed to win.

Kolelas finished runner-up to leader Denis Sassou Nguesso in the year 2016 presidential election with about 15 percent of the presendential’s vote. His father, Bernard Kolelas, was provisionally Congo’s prime minister in 1997 during the civil war in the country.

The opposition party figure has been individually critical of the incumbent leader in recent days, claiming that the Republic of Congo had become “a police state”.

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