A large police presence was deployed in Kinshasa on Wednesday morning at the planned site of an opposition demonstration against the electoral process banned by the authorities, an AFP team noted.
Several opposition candidates for the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on December 20 and 21, as well as civil society organizations, have called for a march against what they described as a “sham election” and called for the election to be canceled.
Interior Minister Peter Kazadi announced on Tuesday that the march would not be allowed. It “aims to undermine the electoral process, the Government of the Republic cannot accept this,” he explained.
The opposition maintained its slogan and called on the people of Kinshasa to gather near the People's Palace, the seat of Parliament, to march to the headquarters of the Electoral Commission (Céni).
Riot police are stationed in the People's Palace area near the large Martyrs Stadium on Wednesday morning.
Almost 44 million voters were called to elect their president, their national and regional representatives and their local councils on December 20th. Due to numerous logistical problems, quadruple voting was officially extended by one day and continued until Christmas in some remote areas.
According to partial results of the presidential election, outgoing head of state Félix Tshisekedi is clearly in the lead with around 79% of the vote. He has been in power since the beginning of 2019 and is seeking a second five-year term.
According to the latest figures available, based on around 6 million votes counted, Moïse Katumbi, former governor of the Katanga mining region, would finish in second place with 14% of the vote, followed by Martin Fayulu, unsuccessful candidate in the 2018 presidential election. (4%).
The other twenty or so candidates did not receive 1% of the vote. Among them was Dr. Denis Mukwege, winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of female victims of war rape, ranked 11th with 0.12%.
Already on December 20, opponents had described the elections as “total chaos” and denounced “irregularities”. The Archbishop of Kinshasa described these elections as “a gigantic organized unrest.”
Like some fifteen embassies before him, the prelate called for “restraint.”
Tensions are to be feared as the winner of the presidential election is announced, in a country with a turbulent and often violent political history, with an immensely rich mineral base but a predominantly poor population.
“We have taken all measures to ensure peace,” assured the Interior Minister.