Kinshasa, December 23 (EFE). – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began publishing the first preliminary results last night from this week's chaotic parliamentary elections, giving outgoing President Félix Tshisekedi the lead in vote counting, although the number counted is still very small.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) has published the corresponding audit of the diaspora in South Africa, Belgium, France, Canada and the United States.
Of the 5,302 votes counted, Tshisekedi received 80.99 percent, followed by businessman and former governor of the former Katanga (South Province) Moïse Katumbi, who received 11.01 percent.
The CENI hopes to begin publishing this Saturday the results of the territory where elections took place on Wednesday, although they continued on Thursday and even on Friday in areas where logistical challenges delayed or prevented voting.
Around 44 million people – out of the country's more than one hundred million inhabitants – were called upon to exercise their democratic right at 75,000 polling stations and to take part in the presidential, parliamentary, provincial and local elections.
The delays were largely due to last-minute electoral materials arriving in schools in this country, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa (nearly five times larger than Spain) and with a population of more than a hundred million and a great natural wealth. but in large parts of its territory the infrastructure is poor.
In view of the organizational chaos, five presidential candidates – including the gynecologist and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege and the important opposition leader Martin Fayulu – denounced “serious irregularities” on election day on Wednesday and called for a repeat of the elections.
Including Tshisekedi, nineteen presidential candidates are running in these elections, with Katumbi standing out, who denounced “many failures” in the electoral process but refrained from questioning the CENI.
The elections also took place in the shadow of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fueled by dozens of militias and the army, and amid a new escalation in fighting by the “23” rebel movement. March” (M23) in the eastern province of Nord instead of Kivu.
According to the electoral calendar, presidential election results were scheduled to be released on December 31, but they could be released earlier if counting is completed.
At least 19 people died due to violence related to the voting process that culminated in this week's election, the United States Carter Center, which sent an observer mission to the vote, said on Friday.
The mission concluded that “the election was contested and citizen participation demonstrated a strong commitment to democracy” but there was “a lack of trust in the process, partly due to previous elections, as well as gaps in the Transparency,” especially when it comes to voter registration.
The Carter Center admitted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) made “significant efforts” to overcome logistical and security challenges and provide the necessary materials and personnel at polling stations to hold the December 20 elections.
However, he added that many polling stations “opened late or not at all, which led to the CENI extending voting to a second day.”
In a preliminary assessment, the African Union Election Observation Mission (EOM) noted that “the elections took place in a relatively calm environment with significant logistical challenges.” EFE
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