8,000 electronic voting machines were destroyed in a mysterious fire at a guarded warehouse in Congo's capital, forcing the electoral commission to postpone the election, which was originally scheduled for December 23. Also, voters in several regions of the Congo, such as Beni, failed to participate due to the ongoing Ebola outbreak and the insecurity posed by armed groups.

Moreover, there have been several reports signalling major irregularities such as discarded ballot boxes, people who were not on the ballot miraculously winning local elections and a number of voting machines running long after the polls were supposed to close. If proven correct, these irregularities could cast further doubts on the electoral outcomes.

In light of all this, many national and international observers disputed the results of the election.

Martin Fayulu, whocame second according to the CETU but claims to be the real winner of the presidential race, appealed to the country's Constitutional Court to cancel the provisional result. He too supports the idea that Tshisekedi was declared the winner of the election only because he made a deal with the TCC coalition.

More importantly, DRC's powerful Catholic Church, which deployed more than 40,000 observers to monitor the elections, said it determined "the real winner" of the presidential race and strongly suggested that Tshisekedi's win is not legitimate.

In a statement released on December 10, the church said that "the results of the presidential election published by (the electoral commission) do not match those collected by our observer mission."

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) also issued a statement saying the DRC