KINSHASA, (Reuters) – Election authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday delayed the announcement of a winner in the country’s presidential election for the second time this week, citing the need to cross-check results.
Tensions are high in the central African state after a Nov. 28 poll marred by deadly violence, disorganisation and allegations of fraud. Both sides have claimed victory.
“We want to apologise, we’re going to continue working and we will have the results tomorrow,” election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda said last evening.
The results from the Nov. 28 vote had first been due on Tuesday but were then pushed back until Thursday as results had not yet come in from all parts of the vast country, which is about half the size of the European Union.
Incumbent President Joseph Kabila leads so far with 48.9 percent of the vote, ahead of veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi with 33.3 percent, according to partial results covering nearly 90 percent of polling stations.
The opposition welcomed the delay to results, saying the extra time could be used to bolster the vote’s transparency, and Tshisekedi’s party reiterated its rejection of any Kabila win.
“The reality is that (the electoral commission) is bending under the pressure of the population. Its not easy to publish a lie,” Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo, secretary general of the opposition UDPS, told Reuters.
If results released so far stand, Tshisekedi would need to win nearly all of the 2.9 million possible votes remaining to beat Kabila, according to rough calculations of the number of registered voters and polling stations yet to be counted.
“Everyone’s waiting foir the results. We’ve done our own compilation and we know that president Kabila has won, but the announcement must be credible,” Aubin Minaku, secretary general of the ruling coalition backing Kabila.
Donors have called for results to be published by polling station instead of in aggregate as a way to ensure results are credible and transparent.
Brussels-based International Crisis Group warned the results risked sparking protests that could prompt a bloody repression. Congo must try to salvage “a badly flawed process” with the international help, it said.
