* Doubts remain over election funding
* International community's commitment questioned
* Observer worries over neutrality of electoral commission
By Jonny Hogg
KINSHASA, April 5 (Reuters) - Concerns over financing, security and the neutrality of poll organisers are casting a shadow over planning for Congo's second post-war election, raising the risk of delays and street unrest.
Any postponement of the poll -- planned for November -- or rows over the legitimacy of the results, could undermine the central African state's fragile efforts at stability and hamper much-needed foreign investment.
Congo's government, rather than United Nations peacekeepers, is set to take the lead in organising the one-round vote, in which President Joseph Kabila will face several challengers but could secure easy re-election if his fractured opposition fails to form an alliance to avoid splitting the vote.
But the path is littered with problems that threaten to derail the election process.
Chief among them are a lag in donor funding, questions over the independence of the election body, and the ability of Congolese forces to ensure security.
"Fair elections will not provide silver bullet solutions, but they are our best chance to improve governance and accountability," said New York-based analyst Jason Stearns.
The electoral commission -- known as CENI -- delayed announcing a new electoral calendar last week following a meeting in the country's copper capital Lubumbashi, saying it needed more time to tackle budgetary and legal issues.
The government, which has said it is committed to elections this year, has promised to cover 60 percent of the total cost of elections -- which could top ${esc.dollar}700 million according to U.N. estimates -- with donor countries paying the rest.
But some observers have questioned the commitment of foreign governments to an electoral process that lacks the historical significance of the 2006 vote, which was seen as a crucial step to ending conflict in the country.
A 1998-2003 war killed some 5 million people.
"It seems very unlikely that the government's request for external financial assistance will be met: the state of Congolese democracy seems to have fallen off the international agenda," Christopher Melville, an analyst at London-based Menas Associates, told Reuters.
A U.N.-managed election fund has generated around ${esc.dollar}90 million, down from ${esc.dollar}275 million in 2006 and less than a third of what is needed from donors this time, while some governments, including the U.S. administration, have yet to decide how much to give.
"Without money nothing can be done, if we don't have money we can't organise elections," CENI member Laurent Ndaye told Reuters in an interview last month.
A senior Western aid source said that international support for the elections was sufficient and it was up to the Congolese to ensure the integrity and credibility of the poll.
RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Even if funding comes through, some fear CENI, which is headed by Pasteur Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, a man with close links to the government, is also not well positioned to ensure the poll comes off smoothly and with a widely accepted result.
"The new law on the electoral commission deprived it of its semi-neutral character; its president is now a staunch ally of President Joseph Kabila, instead of a civil society leader," Stearns said.
After months of political wrangling Congo's parliament finally agreed on the structure of the new commission, with seven members, four nominated by Kabila's majority commission and three by the opposition, but critics say its makeup favours the government.
Other important institutions including the police -- who have taken over the role of providing security from United Nations peacekeepers -- are also more politicised than in 2006, Stearns says.
The U.N.'s chief of police in the country recently warned that a lack of training and equipment for the security forces could lead to election bloodshed.
Security issues -- particularly in the troubled east of the country where armed groups are still battling U.N. soldiers and the Congolese armed forces -- also pose a serious challenge for completing the crucial voter registration process.
"It's a huge task but the government has decided it's necessary for credibility," CENI's Ndaye said of the decision to totally renew voter lists, aimed at registering more than 30 million people in a country the size of western Europe and with virtually no infrastructure.
The process, which has so far only been completed in two of the country's 11 provinces, has to be accelerated if they are to finish on time, Ndaye said.
Much now rests on the new electoral calendar, with some saying further delays could make it necessary to push back polls into 2012 despite a constitutional requirement they be held this year.
"It's not normal that after five years (the government) is incapable of planning elections and respecting those plans," spokesman for UDPS opposition party Emery Masamba said.
A delayed election could risk stirring up street tensions if it is seen as an attempt by Kabila to overstay his term. That in turn could discourage risk-averse investors from entering the country, hindering a recovery in vital foreign investment, analysts say.
Foreign direct investment in Congo nearly halved between 2007 and 2009 to ${esc.dollar}950 million, according to latest World Bank data, due partly to the global financial crisis but also to worries over contract security and rampant rebel activity in the east of the country.
(For a factbox on key political risks in Congo, click on [ID:nRISKCD]) (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Susan Fenton)
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