Opposition leader petitions court for election recount

KINSHASA, Congo — Presidential election runner-up Martin Fayulu on Saturday said he has asked the constitutional court to order a recount in the disputed vote, declaring that “you can’t manufacture results behind closed doors.”

He could be risking more than a court refusal. Congo’s electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa has said there are only two options: The official results are accepted or the vote is annulled — keeping President Joseph Kabila in power until another election.

“They call me the people’s soldier ... and I will not let the people down,” Fayulu said. The court filing includes evidence from witnesses at polling stations across the country, he said.

Rifle-carrying members of Kabila’s Republican Guard deployed outside Fayulu’s home and the court earlier Saturday. It was an attempt to stop him from filing, Fayulu said, while posting a video of them on Twitter: “The fear remains in their camp.”

Fayulu has accused the declared winner, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi, of making a backroom deal with Kabila to win power in the mineral-rich nation as the ruling party candidate did poorly.

The opposition coalition for Fayulu, a businessman vocal about cleaning up widespread corruption, has said he won 61 percent of the vote, citing figures compiled by the Catholic Church’s 40,000 election observers across the vast Central African country.

Those figures show Tshieskedi received 18 percent, the coalition said.

The church, the rare authority that many Congolese find trustworthy, has urged the electoral commission to release its detailed vote results for public scrutiny. The commission has said Tshisekedi won with 38 percent while Fayulu received 34 percent.

Earlier on Saturday, the commission announced that Kabila’s ruling coalition had won an absolute majority of national assembly seats. That majority, which will choose the prime minister and form the next government, sharply reduces the chances of dramatic reforms under Tshisekedi.

Congolese now face the extraordinary situation of a presidential vote allegedly rigged in favor of the opposition. “This is more than an electoral farce; it’s a tragedy,” the LUCHA activist group tweeted.

Saleh Mwanamilongo and Mathilde Boussion are Associated Press writers.