A coalition backing President Joseph Kabila won the largest number of seats in the Republic of Congo’s (DRC) July 30 parliamentary elections, but fell short of an overall majority, according to results from electoral authorities on Friday.
Kabila’s Alliance for the Presidential Majority won about 200 of the 500 parliamentary seats, or roughly 40%, but will still need support from independent parties to name a prime minister for the vast Central African state.
Kabila’s rival in a presidential run-off scheduled for October 29, Jean-Pierre Bemba, and his Rally of Congolese Nationalists won more than 80 seats, according to Reuters’ calculations.
The exact number of seats commanded by each coalition depends on shifting political allegiances, which may change still further ahead of next month’s presidential vote.
”According to electoral law, the prime minister must come from the parliamentary majority. Political alliances are now inevitable to form such a majority,” said Independent Electoral Commission spokesperson Dieudonne Mirimo, announcing the results.
Veteran opposition politician Antoine Gizenga’s PALU party came third in the parliamentary elections, with 34 seats, emerging as a potential kingmaker. The parties have a 30-day period, which can be renewed once, to choose a prime minister.
The electoral commission provided results by individual party, and the results by coalition were calculated by Reuters based on information from groups about their membership.
The legislative results followed broadly the same pattern as the presidential first-round ballot, held on the same day, where Kabila won 45% and Bemba 20%.
The elections were supposed to usher in an era of peace and stability to the mineral-rich former Belgian colony after a 1998 to 2003 war that killed nearly four million people, mainly through hunger and disease.
But an acrimonious campaign and fierce fighting in Kinshasa last month between Kabila and Bemba’s private armies, which killed at least 23 people, have raised political tensions ahead of October’s decisive presidential run-off. Kinshasa remained calm on Friday after the announcement of results.
The figures had been due to be announced on Monday but were delayed as the commission investigated vote-rigging charges against 10 electoral officials in Kinshasa. — Reuters