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Dr. Kapil with Chargé d'Affaires - Ms Gregg

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Dr. Kapil with Chargé d'Affaires - Ms Gregg

Dr. Arun Kapil Brings the U.S. Election Process to Brazzaville

Dr. Arun Kapil is currently an adjunct professor of political science at the American University in Paris but hails from Wisconsin and Illinois, Chicago to be exact. He was in Brazzaville compliment of an ARS – Africa Regional Services - speaker’s program.  His subject: the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.

Interest in the U.S. elections is at all-time high in the Republic of Congo, and this was demonstrated by the large number of people in the audiences who attended Dr. Kapil’s presentations. Over 200 government representatives attended a presentation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), hosted by Daniel Owassa, Cabinet Director for the MFA and  Mr Henri Bouka, Head of the Republic of Congo Electoral Commission.  An additional 100 members of the National Assembly, 20 journalists, 80 law students, 200 English Club members, and 100 representatives of embassies attended a series of lectures over the three-day period.

At each event, questions centered on the popular vote versus the Electoral College, how the number of votes each state has within the Electoral College is determined, and why Al Gore did not win the presidency in 2000. Registration, data bases, absentee balloting and process monitoring were the major questions of the CONEL representatives.

English club members focused on the chances of Barack Obama to win the presidency and Dr. Kapil assured the young Congolese that this is truly an event without precedent. The Democratic National Convention was taking place during the three-day event, and discussions based on the convention proved the most interesting.