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On July 30, 2006, citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo were given the opportunity to choose their leader in the country's first presidential election in over 40 years. The historic elections marked the culmination of the Congo's democratic transition which began in 2002 with the signing of the Pretoria Peace Agreement. This ended the country's five-year conflict in which an estimated three million people died and another three million people were displaced. Several national and international organizations monitored the recent presidential elections, as well as the subsequent run-off elections in October, and found them to be transparent, free, and fair.

The Ligue des Electeurs (League of Voters), one of the largest and most experienced election organizations working in the Congo, was one of the lead domestic organizations monitoring and observing the election process. The League and a network of 25 organizations in the Congo were able to organize and field 50,000 election monitors. Established in 1990 and based in Kinshasa, the League focuses on democratic development, the defense of human rights, and the promotion of electoral culture. The League has built a nationwide network of local chapters that train election observers and encourage citizen involvement during the country's transition to democracy.

Leading up to the elections in 2006, the League conducted a massive voter education campaign designed to inform Congolese citizens of the election procedures and encourage them to get out and vote on election day, participate in candidates' campaigns, and monitor the elections themselves. This campaign included 12 public meetings, a weekly radio program and a bi-weekly television program, monthly fairs, and the distribution of posters and pamphlets. The “get out the vote” component of the campaign produced impressive results—25 million Congolese citizens registered to vote and 80 percent of registered voters turned out on election day. The League's campaign also worked to ensure that, once the elections were deemed free and fair, citizens would accept the results of the election as valid even if their chosen candidate did not win.

The League was also instrumental in the creation of an independent electoral commission, an essential component to the running of free and fair elections. Through an advocacy campaign that took place in conjunction with the inter-Congolese dialogue following the 2002 Peace Agreement, the League ensured that a nonpartisan independent electoral commission was adopted within the country's constitution.

In addition to these efforts, the League has developed an extensive civic education program specializing in electoral issues. In 2006 alone, the League trained over 900 primary and secondary school teachers as civic education facilitators in Bas Congo, Katanga, Equateur, and Kinshasa. Each facilitator then educated 100 students to reach over 90,000 people.

Though the votes have been tallied and the Congo has a new president, the League is preparing for work to be done in the future. Over the next three years, the League will be implementing a new plan that draws on lessons learned from the challenges and irregularities in previous elections. The League will work to ensure that the electoral process is transparent and accessible to all social and political actors and that recent gains made in the democratic process in the Congo will not be lost.