Initial election results released by Ceni, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Electoral Commission, on December 25, 2023 indicate that President Felix Tshisekedi, the incumbent, was leading.
Tshisekedi, DRC president since 2019, is seeking reelection for a second term. His main opponents include former Katanga provincial governor Moise Katumbi, former oil executive Martin Fayulu and Nobel Peace Laureate Denis Mukwege.
At least 44 million voters had registered to cast their ballots in DRC’s election held last week’. It is not yet clear how many people turned up to vote. Results are coming in slowly.
Ceni has only returned results of about 1.9 million Congolese, including voters in diaspora constituencies.
Ceni’s initial results for these counted votes put DRC president Tshisekedi in a comfortable early lead at 81 per cent.
Katumbi is so far in the second place with about 15 per cent while Fayulu has one per cent of the votes cast in the contentious DRC election. More results are expected in coming days.
OPPOSITION PLANS PROTESTS
Leading opposition leaders have dismissed the poll as fraudulent and called for protests. “We will protest against the irregularities noted during the voting operations,” they said in a statement.
European embassies have called of restraint and calm.
“As the vote counting continues, we urge all stakeholders, especially political actors, candidates and their supporters, to exercise restraint, allow the process to unfold, and raise their concerns peacefully,” the embassies urged.
Meanwhile, ahead of the election, President Tshisekedi attacked Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. Kinshasa was also engaged in diplomatic blunders with Kenya. (See Details Here and There).
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