From 1998 the country has suffered a decade of war and perhaps as many as five million dead. GDP per capita output shows that the country is now poorer than it was before independence from Belgium in 1960. Real income is now lower than it was 50 years ago.

According to the UN's human development index, the Democratic Republic of Congo is the worst place in the world to live. Sexual violence here takes place in an almost unimaginable scale. Neighbouring Rwandan radio station Krem FM recently ran a campaign to highlight just how bad this issue was. According to reports they had from various human rights groups there were upward of 80,000 rapes being committed every month in the eastern Kivu region alone. Other human rights abuses are commonplace and go mostly unreported in country with no real law and order agencies.

More than five million died in the 10 year civil war.

The Congo is the only nation that will miss every single target to eradicate poverty – the Millennium Development Goals - official unemployment stands at 97%.

As the crowds prepare to vote in the capital Kinshasa even for them it is hard to imagine just what lies beyond a tarmaced road system that surrounds the sprawling metropolis. For this is a country bigger than western Europe with only 800 miles of paved roads whose interior still remains a 'Heart of Darkness' in reality little changed from Conrad's time.

As millions go to the polls in what international observers say in typical public relations understatement is likely to be a 'difficult' election to manage, there is little optimism among voters that things will get better any time soon.

'There is no economic theory in the world that shows you how to manage 97% unemployment," said a pessimistic local political analyst.