Congo election: President Kabila wins again
Congolese riot-policeman stand guard on the streets of Goma, in eastern Congo on December 6,2011. Across the country, in Kinshasa, police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters as tensions were running high in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the announcement of the winner of last week’s elections have been delayed until Dec. 8. The giant central African country is on high alert after a campaign that saw deadly police crackdowns on opposition rallies and a series of clashes between rival parties.
President Joseph Kabila has been reelected by the Democratic Republic of Congo, provisional election results show, the BBC reported.
Kabila obtained 49 percent of the voted against 32 percent for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, the BBC reported. The election announcement has been delayed since Tuesday due to logistical problems, election officials said.
Read more at GlobalPost: Congo delays election results
"The electoral commission notes that the candidate Joseph Kabila has achieved a majority with, 8,880,944 votes, or 48.97 percent of votes cast," election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda said, Reuters reported. "(The results) are no reason to whip up the population against the established order to contest the results, or to settle scores.”
Tshisekedi's supporters had promised to protest if Kabila won the election and tires were being burned near some counting centers, the Associated Press reported.
Read more at GlobalPost: Do Africa's elections strengthen democracy?
Police in riot gear were deployed to the empty streets of Kinshasa, the capital, in case of clashes. At least 18 people were killed and 100 wounded in election-related violence so far, Reuters reported. Kabola’s government has been accused by the opposition party of vote-rigging. Kabila also warned that the government would calling the army if election protests became “too chaotic,” Reuters reported.
This was the second election held in Congo’s 51-year history, and the first to be entirely organized by the government instead of the international community, the AP reported. Kabila became president after the 2001 assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, who ruled the Congo after overthrowing a dictator in 1997. His son was then elected president in 2006 in a vote overseen by the United Nations, the AP reported.
Read more at GlobalPost: Violence flares a day ahead of DR Congo elections
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