There is a 48 hour blackout of telephone, internet and SMS services in Congo due to the Presidential elections.
The Interior Minister Raymond Mboulou wrote to telecommunication companies urging them to shut off telephone, internet and SMS services for 48 hours for “reasons of security and national safety”.
Long-time leader Denis Sassou Nguesso is heavily favored to win the polls.
According to Al Jazeera, tensions have been running high in Congo since October, when a public referendum backed removing a two-term limit that would have kept 72-year-old former paratrooper colonel Sassou Nguesso from power.
The vote also removed a 70-year age limit for the presidency that could have forced one of Africa’s five longest-serving leaders to step down.
The changes were approved in a referendum by 94.3 percent – dubbed “a constitutional coup” by the opposition – and protests erupted in the run-up to the vote that left several people dead.
The incumbent president has said he has no doubt he will beat his eight rivals, describing election day as a “penalty kick and then victory”.
