Suspicion rife as Congo outsider triumphs
The ruling party in Congo was yesterday accused of cutting a secret deal to cling to power after a rank outsider was declared the winner of the country’s presidential election.
In a pre-dawn announcement, the electoral commission prompted incredulity abroad and trepidation at home by naming Felix Tshisekedi the next president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Not since independence from Belgium in 1960 had presidential power been transferred peacefully and never before had an opposition candidate triumphed at the ballot box. However, the result was overshadowed by suspicion that the wrong opposition candidate had been declared the winner.
According to the electoral commission, Tshisekedi topped the poll with 38.5 per cent, 684,000 votes more than Martin Fayulu, his rival in the opposition.
Yet opinion polls had shown Tshisekedi 20 points behind Fayulu, who had won the endorsement of much of the opposition, including two popular figures who had been barred from standing.
Even more troubling, Congo’s respected Catholic Church, which had stationed 40,000 observers across the country to monitor the vote, told Western diplomats that it was convinced that Fayulu had won.
‘‘The results from the presidential election as published by the [electoral commission] do not correspond to the data collected by our observer mission from polling stations and vote counts,’’ the church’s council of bishops said in a statement.
For Fayulu’s camp, it seemed like proof that Joseph Kabila, the outgoing president who should have stepped down two years ago, had found a way even now to ensure he could have at least a share of power.
Protests yesterday were limited, but security personnel shot dead two anti-government demonstrators in Kikwit in the southwest, and there were also disturbances in the city of Kisangani.
However, the situation could deteriorate rapidly. Much will depend on whether the Congolese people are prepared to accept the outcome of the vote, which could be challenged in court over the next 10 days.
Some opposition supporters may accept a Tshisekedi presidency since he is not from the ruling party and because he shares the name of his father Etienne, who effectively led Congo’s opposition for decades until his death two years ago.
Jean-Yves le Drian, France’s foreign minister, said the results were ‘‘the opposite to what we expected’’.
Belgium said it would call an emergency session of the United Nations security council.
South Africa and even the African Union also expressed concern and declined to congratulate Tshisekedi. – Telegraph Group