Congo’s president re-elected in vote opponents dismiss as ‘sham’

ELECTIONS in the Democratic Republic of Congo have given incumbent president Felix Tshisekedi a landslide victory and a second term, according to provisional results announced yesterday – a result which opposition leaders dismissed as a “sham”.

Projected results declared by the country’s electoral commission, Ceni, showed Mr Tshisekedi won 73 per cent of the vote in the single-round ballot.

Moise Katumbi – a wealthy businessman, football club owner and former provincial governor – was the runner-up with about 18 per cent.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) constitutional court is expected to confirm the provisional results on Jan 10.

Mr Tshisekedi, 60, first came to power in January 2019 after a disputed election that many observers said he had actually lost. Martin Fayulu – who says he was robbed of victory in the last presidential election in 2018 – also contested this year’s poll. Heid to have won about 5 per cent of the votes.

The 20 remaining candidates, including Denis Mukwege, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with female victims of wartime sexual violence, were either under, or hovering around, 1 per cent. Nine opposition candidates – Mukwege, Fayulu and Katumbi – yesterday signed a declaration rejecting what they termed a “sham” election and called for a rerun.

Mr Fayulu, addressing reporters in the capital, Kinshasa, the same day, said the results “are a masquerade. This must not be accepted”.

Tresor Kibangula, a political analyst who spoke to AFP before the full provisional results were released, said Tshisekedi’s vote tally “is way beyond all expectations ... his dynamic campaign worked” but his scores in some regions “raise questions about the impact of the irregularities that were observed”.

Some 44 million people out of the 100 million inhabitants of the huge country were registered to vote for president in the on Dec 20 ballot, as well as for national and regional lawmakers and municipal councillors.

Voting was officially extended by a day to account for problems, and continued for days afterwards in remote areas, according to observers.

One observation mission said it “documented numerous cases of irregularities susceptible to have affected the integrity of the vote”.

Authorities stress any electoral disputes must be presented to the constitutional court but opposition leaders have no confidence in the court or in Ceni, which they argue is subservient to the government.

‘Mr Tshisekedi’s scores in some regional votes raise questions about the impact of irregularities observed’