Congo: Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas hospitalised with COVID-19

Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas says he’s ‘fighting death’ after being diagnosed with COVID-19 on eve of presidential vote.

The leading opposition presidential candidate in Republic of Congo was receiving oxygen at a private hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, a family member said, casting Sunday’s election into doubt on the eve of the vote. The election’s outcome was already all but certain even before confirmation of Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas’s illness. President Denis Sassou N’Guesso has been in power for more than 36 years, last winning 60 percent of the vote in 2016. But the Central African country’s constitution stipulates that an election can be delayed if a candidate dies or is unable to participate in the vote.