Provisional results published on Wednesday from Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) historic presidential election gave President Joseph Kabila 58% of votes, against 42% for his rival Jean-Pierre Bemba, with all votes counted.
DRC’s Independent Electoral Commission has said it must deal with challenges to the figures before declaring a winner from the October 29 run-off, but it posted results from all 169 constituencies on its website.
Former rebel leader Bemba’s coalition has already rejected partial results showing Kabila winning, and Kabila urged Congolese on Wednesday to remain calm.
”I would say to the population of our country, to the Congolese people … that they should remain calm and wait for the publication of official results by the Independent Electoral Commission [CEI],” Kabila said.
He said the police and army remained loyal to him as president, suggesting security forces would not tolerate further trouble following clashes with Bemba’s supporters in August and last weekend.
He was briefing foreign journalists at his Kinshasa office, decorated with several pictures of his father Laurent, shot dead by a bodyguard in 2001. Other photos show the younger Kabila meeting dignitaries, including United States President George Bush.
”There are institutions in place. In case of any escalation, there is the justice system, of course. And there are the security forces, which are there, are they not, to protect the population and their belongings, protect the institutions and protect the CEI, and protect everybody,” Kabila said.
The historic vote was the culmination of a peace process to end DRC’s 1998-2003 war in which Bemba led a rebel faction before joining a power-sharing government.
Rejection raises tensions
But the vice-president’s Union for the Nation coalition has already rejected results, saying there has been ”systematic cheating” in the vote count and questioning the credibility of the electoral commission.
It said on Tuesday the provisional results conflicted with data collected by its own observers at polling stations, which it said showed Bemba ahead with 52,5% of the vote.
”The Union for the Nation will not accept an electoral hold-up that aims to steal the victory from the Congolese people,” the coalition said in a statement on Tuesday.
Kabila dismissed Bemba’s complaints, saying: ”This is nothing but agitation by politicians who either know they have lost the elections or don’t even know what is going on because they have not been following the process.”
The polls were meant to crown a peace process ending DRC’s war, which spawned a humanitarian crisis that has killed about four million people. Aid workers estimate 1 200 still die every day from violence, hunger and disease.
Bemba’s rejection of the results has stoked fears of further violence, but the city’s streets were calm on Wednesday.
Soldiers loyal to the two candidates fought days of bloody street battles in August, which killed at least 30 people after the first round results were announced. Four more were killed last Saturday when the two sides clashed once again.
The United Nations’ biggest peace force, 17 500-strong, and a special European Union force sent to help secure the city during DRC’s first free elections in 40 years, have stepped up patrols in the past fortnight to head off any unrest. — Reuters