According to preliminary results, incumbent Felix Tshisekedi clearly prevailed in the presidential elections in the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo. As the electoral commission announced today, the politician, considered pro-Western, obtained 13.2 million votes. This represents 73.3% of the votes cast. The official final result will be announced by the Constitutional Court of Africa's second largest country.
Opposition members had already called new elections in advance
Even before the provisional results of the December 20 elections were announced, nine opposition candidates called for new elections today and declared that they did not want to recognize the results of the electoral commission. Election-related demonstrations were expected in Kinshasa, as well as in several other cities, especially in the east of the country.
Tshisekedi had the best opportunity in the elections in Africa's second largest country – also because the opposition was unable to agree on a common candidate. At the beginning of his first term, he announced that he wanted to transform the country into an “African Germany”.
Businessman Moise Katumbi, considered the most promising opponent, and eight other candidates criticized irregularities in the election in a joint appearance on Sunday and called for new elections with an “independent electoral commission”.
Missing voter lists, faulty voting machines
Around 44 million people were called to vote. The resource-rich Central African country, which is the size of Western Europe, has a total population of 100 million. Members of the national parliament and regional parliaments in the country's provinces and local representatives were also elected. However, in many polling stations it was not possible to vote on election day due to lack of voter lists, faulty voting machines or other problems, so voting had to be extended within a short space of time and voting took place over several days.