The long-delayed presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been
won by opposition leader, Felix Tshisekedi.
This provisional result was announced by the country's electoral commission.
The head of the Independent National Election Commission, Corneille Nangaa, said late on
Wednesday 09 January 2019, in the capital, Kinshasa, that Felix Tshisekedi gained 38.57%
of the vote, and so he was provisionally declared the elected president of the country.
Nangaa said Tshisekedi had received more than seven million votes, compared to about 6.4
million for another opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, who led in polling and warned
against manipulation.
Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the hand-picked candidate of long-time President Joseph Kabila,
was third with about 4.4 million votes.
The announcement came hours after riot police deployed at the commission's headquarters
in Kinshasa amid fears of violence due to a disputed result.
Election observers reported a number of irregularities during the 30 December 2018 vote, and the
opposition alleged it was marred by fraud.
The result could lead to the vast country's first democratic transfer of power since independence
from Belgium in 1960, with the incumbent president, Joseph Kabila, due to leave office this month
after 18 years in power, and two years after the official end of his mandate.
However, vote tallies compiled by the DRC's Catholic Church found Martin Fayulu had clearly
won the election, raising the fear of a standoff that many fear could lead to violence.
In a conference last week, the Church's bishops said that it knew the identity of the winner
and demanded that the electoral commission publish accurate results.
The Church did not say who it thought the winner was, but briefed diplomats on its conclusions.
Losing candidates can contest the results before the country's constitutional court.
It is not immediately clear whether Martin Fayulu will do so.
Some observers have suggested that Joseph Kabila's government sought to make a deal
as hopes faded for a win for Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.
The result is certain to fuel further suspicion that Felix Tshisekedi struck a power-sharing
pact with Joseph Kabila.
Felix Tshisekedi's camp has acknowledged contacts since the vote with Kabila's representatives
but denies there has been any kind of deal.
A lot of people who didn't have much faith in the electoral commission really thought
that Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, who is backed by Joseph Kabila, would win.
Felix Tshisekedi, 55, is the son of the late Etienne Tshisekedi, the face of the DRC's
opposition for decades.
He has promised a return to the rule of law, to fight corruption, and to bring peace to
the conflict area of the east of the resource-rich country.
More than one million people were kept from voting on Election Day because of an Ebola
outbreak, and militia violence in opposition strongholds, mainly in DRC's east.
Observers said many polling stations opened late and closed early and in some places voting
machines malfunctioned.
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