© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (CENI) officers and polling brokers collect to rely and tally casted poll papers at a polling centre following the Presidential election in Goma, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Con
By Ange Kasongo
KINSHASA (Reuters) -Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has been re-elected for a second time period after getting greater than 73% of the vote in a Dec. 20 ballot, the nation’s election fee CENI mentioned on Sunday.
The declaration of the end result follows days of opposition complaints about the way in which the election was performed.
Logistical setbacks, an election day over-run, and an opaque vote rely have fuelled a dispute that threatens to additional destabilise a rustic roughly the scale of Western Europe which is the world’s high producer of cobalt and different prized industrial commodities.
Asserting the ends in the capital Kinshasa, Denis Kadima, head of CENI, mentioned Tshisekedi had obtained greater than 13 million out of over 18 million legitimate votes, including that turnout was greater than 43%.
Cheers erupted from Tshisekedi’s supporters current on the declaration after Kadima introduced that Tshisekedi was provisionally elected.
Chatting with tons of who gathered at his marketing campaign headquarters after the announcement, Tshisekedi, flanked by his spouse and mom, thanked supporters and promised to hurry up programmes throughout his second time period to deal with inequalities.
“You believed in my dedication to not spare any effort in order that our nation will retake its rightful place, and in order that the Congolese folks will get well their satisfaction and dignity in belonging to this nation,” he mentioned.
“You believed in my battle towards inequalities which have for a very long time characterised our society,” he mentioned.
Rival political events, candidates and people mandated by them have two days to problem the result of the election on the Constitutional Court docket. The courtroom then has seven days to rule on the case and proclaim the ultimate end result.
Opposition frontrunner Moise Katumbi, who got here second with 18%, has already dominated out mounting a authorized problem to the outcomes, citing an alleged lack of independence of state establishments.
Different opposition candidates haven’t clarified whether or not they may problem the outcomes.
Earlier on Sunday a gaggle of 9 opposition presidential candidates, together with Katumbi, and 6 leaders of political events requested supporters to take to the streets to protest after the discharge of the provisional outcomes.
JOINT DECLARATION
“We categorically reject the sham election … and its outcomes,” the principle opposition candidates mentioned in a joint declaration. They demanded recent elections be held with a brand new electoral physique on a date to be agreed by all.
“We name on our folks to take to the streets en masse after the proclamation of the electoral fraud,” they mentioned.
Whereas Tshisekedi’s supporters celebrated his win within the streets of the capital, there was calm in different cities with little indicators of protest on New Yr’s Eve.
The federal government of Congo had beforehand rejected requires a rerun of the elections.
Since election day, a few of Tshisekedi’s foremost challengers, together with former oil government Martin Fayulu, have been calling for a re-run of the competition and of legislative elections, accusing CENI of permitting the vote to be tipped within the president’s favour.
CENI and the federal government have dismissed these allegations and in addition warnings from unbiased observer teams that the unscheduled extension of voting and different incidents on election day, and in the course of the tabulation of votes, might have compromised the credibility and authorized footing of the ballot.
America continues to “carefully observe” the electoral progress in Congo, a State Division official mentioned on Sunday whereas noting that any election disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with Congolese electoral legislation.