UN urges DR Congo to respect election outcome

DR Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu has lodged an appeal at the constitutional court after the election commission declared that Felix Tshisekedi, leader of another opposition group, was the winner.

In a unanimous statement, the council “stressed the need for all concerned stakeholders to act in a way that reaffirms the integrity of the electoral process and respects the outcome of the poll, upholds democracy and preserves peace in the country.”

The French-drafted statement has been under discussion since last week when the council met to discuss the outcome of the December 30 poll, which is to pave the way to the first peaceful transfer of power since the country’s independence in 1960.

The council noted that disputes had been brought before the constitutional court and encouraged all sides to “preserve the generally peaceful climate of the elections.”

Official preliminary results released last Thursday by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) showed Tshisekedi had won 38.57 of the vote, against Fayulu’s 34.8 percent.

Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the candidate backed by outgoing president Joseph Kabila, came a distant third with 23.8 percent.

Fayulu says the results were an “electoral coup” that he alleges was forged in backroom dealings between Tshisekedi and Kabila, who has been in power since 2001.

The influential Catholic Church has said the results announced by the CENI are not consistent with its own data, collected by some 40,000 observers deployed at polling stations.

The Financial Times on Tuesday reported that its own analysis of voting data showed Fayulu was the clear winner, with 59.4 percent of the vote.