Politicians on all sides called for calm on Thursday after Joseph Kabila was declared the winner of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) bitterly fought presidential election.
Kabila took 58,05% of the vote in the October 29 second-round ballot, compared with 41,9% for his rival, Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission said.
In a televised statement shortly after the results were announced late on Wednesday, Kabila appealed to his countrymen to demonstrate ”brotherhood and tolerance” in the election aftermath.
The DRC’s first multiparty election in more than four decades had been marred by clashes between rival security forces loyal to Kabila or Bemba, a former rebel leader.
But fears of further violence in the immediate aftermath of the final results proved unfounded as the streets of Kinshasa, a Bemba stronghold, were calm overnight and early on Thursday.
Kabila’s Alliance for the Presidential Majority party called for ”unity and reconciliation” in the wake of the commission’s announcement.
”This is a victory for all Congolese people — it is an historic moment for our country,” said party spokesperson Olivier Kamitatu.
”Everyone will have their place, everyone will have a role to play. Everyone will express themselves for the betterment of the country.”
Bemba’s cabinet chief Fidele Babala angrily denounced the outcome as an ”electoral hold-up” late on Wednesday — a reference to complaints of irregularities that have been dismissed by local and foreign monitors.
But by Thursday morning, after a night of celebrations in Kabila strongholds in the east of the massive Central African country, Bemba’s camp was choosing its words more carefully.
”People were expecting a war plan from us, some troubles. But we’re not into that,” Babala said.
”At the level of the National Assembly we have our deputies and we’re going to play our role as the opposition.”
Tensions between the two camps erupted into fierce clashes in August following the first inconclusive round of the elections, when two days of fighting in the capital killed 23 people.
Clashes again broke out again on Saturday near Bemba’s official residence in Kinshasa, when a soldier and three civilians were killed.
The United Nations, which has a large peacekeeping mission in the country, has described the violence as minor given the scale of the DRC’s problems following decades of dictatorship and civil war.
The UN mission in the DRC (Monuc) said it ”congratulates the Congolese people for the peaceful way in which they casts their votes and calls on them to continue to remain calm as the country awaits the final results of the polls”.
”Monuc notes that over the past few weeks the [electoral] commission has met frequently with both parties to discuss any concerns and has looked thoroughly into allegations of irregularities.”
UN chief Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged the rival candidates to respect the results. ”I hope the protagonists will accept the results and play by the rules,” he said.
The candidates have three days to challenge the provisional result before the Supreme Court, which is expected to formally declare the winner at the end of this month.
Tensions had been running high in Kinshasa after Bemba’s camp complained of ”systematic errors” in the compiling of figures from around a country, which is almost the size of Western Europe.
But police said on Thursday there had been no significant incidents overnight in the capital, where the majority had voted for Bemba.
”There are no celebrations. It’s more like a funeral wake,” Babala said of the atmosphere in Kinshasa.
By contrast the streets of the eastern cities, which had mainly supported Kabila, were filled with people celebrating his victory.
”Victory at last. The sun has just risen. Kabila and Bemba should agree to get on so that [DRC] can prosper,” said a student in the eastern city of Bukavu.
Kabila pledged on Wednesday to bring in a coalition government if he won the election.
Barring a legal setback, he is due to be sworn in on December 10.
Kabila was first appointed president in 2001 after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, who had ousted the country’s corrupt dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. — Sapa-AFP