The day before, the Vice President of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Bienvenu Ilanga, invited the presidential candidates, observers, witnesses and accredited journalists to see the comparison of the results after the conclusion of the voting.
Voting continued on Thursday at polling stations across the Democratic Republic of Congo that had not opened the previous day due to various problems such as the late arrival of voting materials.
In most polling stations, the results have already been counted or published, but the CENI plans to officially announce them school by school, province by province and broadcast them live on public broadcaster RTNC.
This decision is in response to concerns raised during the 2018 elections, when results were only released worldwide.
On the whole, the presidential elections were calm for national and regional deputies and local councils, although there were delays in the opening of polling stations, malfunctions of electronic equipment and difficulties with voter lists.
The observation mission of the Catholic and Protestant churches revealed that 27 percent of schools were not operational on Wednesday, prompting the CENI to extend the vote in these specific cases until Thursday.
Approximately 44 million registered voters were called to the polls, where the diaspora in Belgium, France, South Africa, the United States and Canada also took part in the polls for the first time since the country's independence in 1960.
It will take some time for the final results of the election to be known, and the president-elect is expected to be sworn in on January 24, 2024.
After the withdrawal of seven presidential candidates, 19 candidates remain in the race for the office, including incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi, who is considered the main favorite.
jha/kmg