Elections in DRC planed to take place on Sunday this week may be postponed for a week, after electronic voting machines were destroyed, in a suspected arson attack on a warehouse last week.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior electoral officer from the Independent National Election Commission (CENI), said yesterday that both the presidential and legislative polls could be delayed.

President Joseph Kabila is scheduled to step down after nearly 18 years in power, following the elections which are already two years overdue.

According to the report by CENI, nearly 8 000 of some 10 000 voting terminals for the capital Kinshasa, were destroyed in the warehouse blaze last Wednesday,.

Opposition candidates last week suggested the government could have been behind the fire, to use as a pretext to delay the vote again.