Congo election may be delayed on logistics setback, costs

* Election kits still to be transported to Congo

* Costs rises to $1.2 bln from $700 mln - document

* Diplomat says poll delay increasingly likely

By Jonny Hogg

KINSHASA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Voting equipment for Democratic Republic of Congo's election is stranded abroad and costs are spiralling, according to documents and officials, threatening to delay a poll that is due at the end of November.

Opposition politicians have already accused President Joseph Kabila of trying to rig his re-election in the vast, mineral-rich country's second vote since its 1998-2003 war.

Congo still relies heavily on foreign donors and United Nations peacekeepers but unlike the last poll in 2006, Kinshasa's government is leading the process and international organisations are due to take a back seat and provide less cash.

With just under three months to go until the polls are due to take place, Laurent Ndaye, a senior member of the country's independent electoral commission (CENI), said equipment such as ballot boxes and voting booths were not yet in the country.

"We've proceeded to order the electoral hardware, we've paid for more than 70 percent. What's posing the problem now is to transport all this material (to the Congo)," he said, adding that the kit was in China, South Africa, Germany and Lebanon.