Tuesday, December 6, 2011

DR Congo election: Joseph Kabila ahead of Tshisekedi

President Joseph Kabila is in the lead in the Democratic Republic of Congo's election with 46% of the vote, official results show.
With more than two-thirds of votes counted, his closest challenger, Etienne Tshisekedi, trails on 36%, the election commission says.
Full results are due later on Tuesday and there is tension after the opposition alleged fraud.
Some 3,000 people fled the capital, Kinshasa, at the weekend.
Eighteen people have reportedly been killed in election-related violence.
Last Monday's polls were the second since the 1998-2003 war officially ended, following the loss of some four million lives.
Armed groups continue to operate in eastern parts of the country.
Police fired tear gas at opposition supporters in Kinshasa on Monday, and gunfire rang out in a city in West Kasai province, both seen as opposition strongholds, after the government shut down a television and radio broadcaster, Reuters reports.
The government warned that it would not tolerate further conflict.
"We cannot let chaos prevail. If the situation becomes too chaotic for the police, we will definitely call for the army to come and help," Kikaya Bin Karubi, DR Congo's ambassador to the UK and a top official in Mr Kabila's camp, is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

DR Congo polls in numbers

map
  • More than 30 million voters
  • More than 18,000 parliamentary candidates
  • 500 parliamentary seats
  • MPs paid $6,000 (£3,887) a month
  • The Kinshasa ballot will be a 56-page booklet of more than 1,500 candidates
  • 11 presidential candidates
  • 4,000 tonnes of ballot papers
  • 61 helicopters and 20 planes are delivering the election material
Guards loyal to Mr Kabila shot opposition protesters, killing 14, ahead of the election, Human Rights Watch said - claims dismissed by the government.
HRW said at least four more people were killed during the poll.
The election was marred by widespread logistical problems, as well as the violence, and polling in some areas was extended until Thursday to allow voting material to be delivered.
DR Congo is two-thirds the size of Western Europe but has hardly any road or rail links between its major cities, so the UN peacekeeping mission distributed some election equipment by helicopter.
Five African observer groups said the elections had been "successful", despite opposition calls for the polls to be annulled because of alleged widespread fraud.
On Thursday, Mr Tshisekedi said he had won the election.

Source: BBC News,

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