Time for a (multi) party

Africa | Congolese voters prepare for polls after decades of dictatorship, civil war, and devastation | Priya Abraham

In the old days, under kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko, Congo had error-proof elections. A voter chose between a green card meaning "yes" to Mobutu, and a red card meaning "no." The only problem, recalls 52-year-old David Kasali, is that there were no red cards.

"If police saw you, that you did not vote, you were in trouble," Kasali told WORLD. "That was our democracy then."

Now the Democratic Republic of Congo hopes to live up to its name. First known as the Belgian Congo under its colonizers, and Zaire under the 30-year rule of Mobutu, the sprawling central African nation has survived six cosmetic name changes and the deep gashes of civil war. On July 30, Congo will have its first national multiparty election in 45 years, and with it, many hope, a chance to leave behind its violent and corrupt past.