Stephanie Wolters is a Senior Research Fellow focusing on Central Africa at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa.

The announcement this past week that Opposition Leader Felix Tshisekedi won the recent presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo brought an end to weeks of tense waiting and two long years of political paralysis and uncertainty. For the first time in its history, the DRC will see a transfer of power from a ruling party to the opposition, a development few dared to imagine even a few weeks ago.

Over the past two years the Congolese people have gone into the streets again and again to fight for their right to vote, making it clear that they wanted President Joseph Kabila and his cronies to go. This domestic unrest led regional players such as Angola to pressure Mr. Kabila not to attempt to run again. This is a substantial victory for the Congolese people: Through sustained pressure, and at great risk to their lives, they secured the right to vote and ensured that the Congolese Constitution was respected. Even the fact that Mr. Kabila did not force through his candidate is a victory for which the Congolese people can take credit.

So it would be a big set-back if, after all this hard work, the Congolese people were to have their vote stolen from them.

Mr. Tshisekedi’s electoral victory has already been challenged by the Catholic Church, one of the few players in the DRC to have credibility and the trust of large sections of the population. The Church deployed 40,000 observers to the polls on election day and says its results indicate that a different candidate won.

Martin Fayulu, the leader of the opposition Lamuka coalition has also rejected the official results. His coalition includes two political heavyweights, Jean-Pierre Bemba and Moise Katumbi, whom the Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) excluded from the election.

Mr. Tshisekedi’s supporters have been celebrating and even some who say they did not vote for him have welcomed his election, expressing the feeling that anyone is better than the ruling-party candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. There have been incidents of violence in parts of the country where Mr. Fayulu is particularly popular, but the scale of the protests is nothing compared with what was expected had Mr. Kabila’s hand-picked successor been declared the winner.

The question now is whether the population is content to accept a result from an institution that has been a key part of the ruling elite’s machinery just because it has given that victory to a political opponent.

As it has in the pre-electoral period, the Congolese population’s reaction now will to a great extent drive regional and continental responses. If Congolese actors choose not to challenge CENI’s results and demand an investigation, it is highly unlikely that the African Union (AU) and the even more reluctant Southern African Development Community (SADC) will insist on greater transparency before endorsing the official result. The AU and SADC have done little to help the Congolese get to this point, but their voice remains important. South Africa, which has played a role in DRC elections in the past and is a new rotating member of the United Nations Security Council should also be pushing for greater transparency.

Mr. Tshisekedi himself should want to start his historic mandate without clouds of doubt hanging over his head. There has been talk of a deal between him and Mr. Kabila: He is declared the winner and in return shares power with Mr. Kabila and his elite. Eventually, we will know whether this was the case just by looking at Mr. Tshisekedi’s cabinet appointments, but he and his party have already gone from bashing Mr. Kabila and the electoral commission before the election to openly lauding Mr. Kabila as a Congolese hero. If Mr. Tshisekedi had won this election fair and square, and knew it, it seems doubtful he would have been so complimentary about a party the population has just voted out of office.

Mr. Tshisekedi’s supporters understandably don’t want the results to be questioned, but they should. The elite in his party will benefit no matter how he governs, but Congolese citizens need courageous leadership that will tackle the fundamental problems in the country: state capture by a small group of civilians and military elite, massive corruption and vested national and international economic interests that undermine development.

If Mr. Tshisekedi is the real winner, and can prove it, he will have his work cut out for him, but his hands won’t be tied. If Mr. Kabila and his elite are the ones who put him there, and this is not challenged effectively, nothing will change. Mr. Kabila, who months ago was tarnished by his lingering in power, his extensive personal business interests and his government’s track record of repression and violence, can walk away with the certainty that the Congolese opposition can be bought for a price, and that the Congolese people’s voices can be silenced after all.</s>Kinshasa (AFP) - Parties supporting outgoing Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila won a majority in long-delayed legislative elections, according to an AFP tally of results released Saturday, as the opposition sought a recount of the disputed presidential poll.

Pro-Kabila parties had passed the 250-seat threshold required to secure a majority in the 500-seat national assembly, according to collated results from the Independent National Election Commission (CENI).

More than 15,000 candidates were running in the poll, which determines who will control parliament for the next five years.

Pro-Kabila candidates had secured 288 of the 429 seats so far declared, with 141 going to the opposition.

The huge central African country, which straddles an area the size of western Europe, has been in the grip of a two-year political crisis triggered by Kabila's refusal to step down when his two-term constitutional limit expired at the end of 2016.

A presidential election to choose a successor was delayed three times before finally taking place on December 30, the same day as the legislative poll.

The poll's runner-up Martin Fayulu, an opposition candidate tipped by pollsters as the likely winner of the vote, told supporters on Friday he would demand a recount.

He said he would challenge Corneille Nangaa, head of the election commission "to produce the tally reports from polling stations in front of witnesses" and Congolese and international observers.

Provisional results released on Thursday gave Felix Tshisekedi, a rival opposition candidate, 38.57 percent of the vote, just ahead of Fayulu with 34.8 percent.

Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the candidate backed by Kabila, came a distant third with 23.8 percent.

The declared result was a surprise to many observers of the mineral-rich but poverty-stricken country, which has suffered two major wars in the past 22 years, as well as bloodshed in elections in 2006 and 2011 that saw Kabila returned to office.

Pre-election opinion polls had flagged Fayulu as clear favourite while Kabila critics predicted an outcome rigged in favour of Shadary.

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The powerful Roman Catholic church bluntly said CENI's provisional result "does not correspond" with data that its 40,000 election monitors had collected at polling stations.

Fayulu's bloc on Friday said he was the true victor, claiming he had garnered 61 percent of the vote.

Candidates have 48 hours after the result to file any appeal, and the Constitutional Court has a week in which to deliberate.

"We don't expect the election to be annulled, but (a decision in favour of) a recount," Fayulu said.

- Unstable giant -

Polling day had unfolded relatively peacefully, but suspicions over the count have deepened.

The turmoil has darkened hopes that the country will have its first peaceful handover of power since it gained independence in 1960.

International reactions to the results have been guarded.

Most leaders issued statements calling for any disputes to be resolved peacefully, but notably lacking any congratulations for Tshisekedi.

Competing appeals in the dispute were pitched to the UN Security Council on Friday.

CENI chief Nangaa, speaking by video conference, pleaded for "the new authorities to be supported by the international community".

Bishop Marcel Utembi, head of the Catholic church's conference of bishops, urged the Security Council to ask CENI to release the records of vote-counting at polling stations to allow for verification.

- Tshisekedi-Kabila deal? -

Analysts said they believed Kabila, 47, had sought to avoid the expected backlash and international condemnation that would have followed had Shadary -- the candidate he publicly supported -- been declared winner.

According to this scenario, he therefore struck a deal with Tshisekedi, head of the country's oldest and biggest opposition party.

Some commentators suggested Kabila would have sought immunity from prosecution for his iron-fisted 18-year rule, and protection from assets seizure in return for offering his support.

Thursday's pre-dawn announcement brought thousands of Tshisekedi supporters onto the streets in celebration, while others who had backed Fayulu came out to protest.

The authorities late Friday imposed an 8pm-5am curfew in Kikwit, a Fayulu stronghold in the west of the country, city mayor Leonard Mutangu told AFP.

Five civilians were killed there on Thursday in a police operation to curb post-election violence, said National Police spokesman Colonel Pierrot-Rombaut Mwanamputu.

Seventeen police were injured, he said, denying earlier reports of police fatalities. A relay station of the national radio and television broadcaster, RTNC, was also ransacked, he added.

In the eastern city of Goma, at least one person was killed, officials said.</s>KINSHASA - Parties supporting outgoing Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila won a majority in the National Assembly in long-delayed legislative elections, according to an AFP tally of results released early Saturday by the electoral commission.

Pro-Kabila parties had passed the 250-seat threshold required to secure a majority in the 500-seat assembly, according to the tally based on information from the Independent National Election Commission (CENI).</s>Parties supporting outgoing Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila won a majority in long-delayed legislative elections, according to the tally of results released Saturday.

Pro-Kabila parties had passed the 250-seat threshold required to secure a majority in the 500-seat national assembly, according to collated results from the Independent National Election Commission (CENI).

More than 15,000 candidates were running in the poll, which determines who will control parliament for the next five years.

Pro-Kabila candidates had secured 288 of the 429 seats so far declared, with 141 going to the opposition.

The huge central African country, which straddles an area the size of western Europe, has been in the grip of a two-year political crisis triggered by Kabila’s refusal to step down when his two-term constitutional limit expired at the end of 2016.

A presidential election to choose a successor was delayed three times before finally taking place on December 30, the same day as the legislative poll.

The poll’s runner-up Martin Fayulu, an opposition candidate tipped by pollsters as the likely winner of the vote, told supporters on Friday he would demand a recount.

He said he would challenge Corneille Nangaa, head of the election commission “to produce the tally reports from polling stations in front of witnesses” and Congolese and international observers.

Provisional results released on Thursday gave Felix Tshisekedi, a rival opposition candidate, 38.57 percent of the vote, just ahead of Fayulu with 34.8 percent.

Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the candidate backed by Kabila, came a distant third with 23.8 percent.

The declared result was a surprise to many observers of the mineral-rich but poverty-stricken country, which has suffered two major wars in the past 22 years, as well as bloodshed in elections in 2006 and 2011 that saw Kabila returned to office.

Pre-election opinion polls had flagged Fayulu as clear favourite while Kabila critics predicted an outcome rigged in favour of Shadary.

The powerful Roman Catholic church bluntly said CENI’s provisional result “does not correspond” with data that its 40,000 election monitors had collected at polling stations.

Fayulu’s bloc on Friday said he was the true victor, claiming he had garnered 61 percent of the vote.

Candidates have 48 hours after the result to file any appeal, and the Constitutional Court has a week in which to deliberate.

“We don’t expect the election to be annulled, but (a decision in favour of) a recount,” Fayulu said.</s>Outgoing president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for Congo (FCC) coalition has won a parliamentary majority according to results published by the country’s elections commission.

This means Congo’s president-elect, Felix Tshisekedi, will have to strike a power-sharing deal with the FCC or face the possibility of a lame duck presidency. Tshisekedi’s Prime Minister will therefore come from the pro-Kabila coalition.

According to the results of the December 30 elections published on Friday by the independent national electoral commission, the pro-Kabila coalition, the Common Front for Congo won 288 of the 500 seats in the Congolese national assembly.

The outfit already exceeds the threshold of 250 seats needed for a majority out of a total of 500, according to an AFP count based on results released by the Independent Electoral Commission (CENI).

Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and its Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) affiliate only managed 46. Martin Fayulu, who came second in the presidential race won 94 seats with his Lamuka coalition.

According to several sources interviewed by AFP, Tshisekedi and Kabila have worked out an arrangement that gives the outgoing president considerable influence in the former’s administration. Kabila would also also have some sort of veto power on appointments in strategic positions such as defence, finance, and Governor of the Central Bank.

Moreover, “the dismissal or rotation of commanders of major army and police units cannot take place without Kabila’s advice”, AFP quoted an unnamed source.

Martin Fayulu has denounced Tshisekedi’s victory and apparent power-sharing deal with Kabila as an ‘electoral coup’. He claims he won the race with 61% of the vote. His claims are backed by the church.</s>The ruling coalition of Congo's outgoing President Joseph Kabila has won a large majority of national assembly seats, the electoral commission announced early Saturday, while the presidential election runner-up was poised to file a court challenge alleging fraud.

The national assembly majority sharply reduces the chances of dramatic reforms under the declared presidential election winner, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi. The election runner-up, Martin Fayulu, has accused Tshisekedi of a backroom deal with Kabila to win power in the mineral-rich nation as the ruling party candidate did poorly.

Congolese face the extraordinary situation of a presidential vote allegedly rigged in favor of the opposition. "This is more than an electoral farce; it's a tragedy," the LUCHA activist group tweeted Saturday, noting the ruling party majority in both national assembly and provincial elections.

Fayulu, a businessman who has been vocal about cleaning up widespread corruption, is filing the court challenge on Saturday.

His opposition coalition on Friday said he won 61 percent of the vote, citing figures compiled by the Catholic Church's 40,000 election observers across the vast Central African country. The figures show Tshieskedi received 18 percent, the coalition said.

The church, the rare authority that many Congolese find trustworthy, has said its figures showed a different winner from the one officially declared. In remarks to U.N. Security Council on Friday, the church urged the electoral commission to release its detailed vote results for public scrutiny.

The commission has said Tshisekedi won with 38 percent of the vote while Fayulu received 34 percent.

This could be Congo's first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, but observers have warned that a court challenge could lead to violence. Some Fayulu supporters have worried that the constitutional court could invalidate the results, keeping Kabila in power until a new election.

There are two options, electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa told the Security Council: The official results are accepted or the vote is annulled.

"Even if Tshisekedi's presidency survives these court challenges, he will be compromised beyond repair and reliant on Kabila, whose patronage network controls most of the country's levers of power, including the security forces," professor Pierre Engelbert, a fellow with at the Atlantic Council's Africa Center, wrote on Friday.

The Dec. 30 election came after more than two turbulent years of delays as many Congolese worried that Kabila, in power since 2001, sought a way to stay in office to protect his sprawling assets.

Statements by the international community, including African regional blocs, have not congratulated Tshisekedi, merely taking note of official results and urging against violence.

Congo's 80 million people have been largely peaceful since the vote, though the U.N. peacekeeping mission has reported at least a dozen deaths in protests in Kwilu province, with authorities noting demonstrations in Kisangani and Mbandaka cities.

Internet service has been cut off across the country since election day.

Tshisekedi had not been widely considered the leading candidate. Long in the shadow of his father, the late opposition leader Etienne, he broke away from the opposition's unity candidate, Fayulu, to stand on his own.

After election results were announced, Tshisekedi said Kabila would be an "important partner" in the transition.

Fayulu, who was backed by two popular opposition leaders barred by the government from running, is seen as more of a threat to Kabila's interests.

The difference between Tshisekedi and Fayulu in official results was some 684,000 votes. One million voters were barred from the election at the last minute, with the electoral commission blaming a deadly Ebola virus outbreak. Elsewhere, observers reported numerous problems including malfunctioning voting machines and polling stations that opened hours late.

The presidential inauguration will be on Jan. 22, the electoral commission said Saturday.</s>KINSHASA, Congo — The ruling coalition of Congo's outgoing President Joseph Kabila has won a large majority of seats in the national assembly. The electoral commission announced the results early Saturday.

That sharply reduces the chances of dramatic reforms under the declared presidential election winner, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi. The election runner-up accuses Tshisekedi of a backroom deal with Kabila to win power.

The runner-up, businessman and anti-corruption campaigner Martin Fayulu, has said he will file a court challenge to the election results on Saturday morning.

His opposition coalition says Fayulu won 61 percent of the vote, citing figures compiled by the influential Catholic Church's election observers. The coalition says the figures show Tshieskedi received 18 percent.

The electoral commission says the date for the presidential inauguration is Jan. 22.</s>Kinshasha - Outgoing Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila's ruling coalition won a majority in legislative elections, a coalition official said on Saturday, despite opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi's win in the presidential vote the same day. The result will undercut Tshisekedi's ability to deliver on campaign promises to make a break with the 18-year Kabila era and fuel suspicion that his victory, announced on Thursday, came through a backroom deal that will preserve Kabila's influence over important ministries and the security forces.

Kabila is due to step down in the coming days in what was meant to be Congo's first democratic transfer of power in 59 years of independence. But he has signalled he intends to remain involved in politics and might run for president in 2023 when term limits no longer apply.

The runner-up in the presidential election, Martin Fayulu, filed a fraud complaint on Saturday with Congo's highest court to challenge the result, a campaign spokeswoman, Eve Bazaiba, told Reuters.

Fayulu says he won in a landslide in the Dec. 30 ballot with more than 60 percent of votes and accuses Tshisekedi of striking a deal with Kabila to be declared the winner.

Tshisekedi's camp denies that there was any deal with Kabila and says meetings it held with the president's representatives after the election were meant solely to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

The disputed outcome threatens to reawaken violence in the huge and tumultuous central African country where millions have died during civil wars since the 1990s.

In a tweet before filing the complaint, Fayulu wrote that the election commission CENI's results "were invented out of whole cloth. I demand a hand recount of all votes for the three elections (presidential, national legislative and provincial)".

The court has eight days to rule, but Fayulu has already said he does not expect a favourable judgment since the court is made up of Kabila appointees.

Earlier in the day, about 50 Republican Guard soldiers and police officers surrounded Fayulu's residence, sending dozens of his supporters, who had been chanting against Kabila and Tshisekedi, fleeing inside, a Reuters witness said.

Fayulu's supporters have demonstrated in several cities since the results were announced. Protests in the western city of Kikwit on Thursday turned violent, killing at least four demonstrators and two police officers.

The parliamentary majority retained by the handful of parties in Kabila's coalition will curtail Tshisekedi's room for manoeuvre. Under the constitution, the majority enjoys significant powers and the president must appoint his prime minister from its ranks.

The prime minister, in turn, must countersign presidential orders appointing or dismissing military chiefs, judges and heads of state-owned enterprises.

Adam Chalwe, a national secretary for Kabila's PPRD party, the biggest within the FCC coalition, told Reuters that results from the individual races announced by CENI on Saturday morning showed FCC candidates taking more than 300 out of 500 seats in the National Assembly.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm that independently.

Parties in the FCC coalition accounted for about 350 seats in the previous legislature.

The coalition's presidential candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, finished a distant third with 24 percent of the vote. Pre-election polling had shown the FCC lagging behind opposition parties in legislative races.

Jean Jacques Mamba, a spokesman for the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) party that backs Fayulu and which polls had shown leading the legislative race, said it had won 22 seats, instead of the 40-50 it had expected.

He accused CENI of rigging the vote using electronic voting machines. CENI officials could not be immediately reached for comment. (Additional reporting by Giulia Paravicini; additional reporting and writing by Aaron Ross, Editing by Ros Russell)</s>The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The ruling coalition of Congo’s outgoing President Joseph Kabila has won a large majority of seats in the national assembly. The electoral commission announced the results early Saturday.

That sharply reduces the chances of dramatic reforms under the declared presidential election winner, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi. The election runner-up accuses Tshisekedi of a backroom deal with Kabila to win power.

The runner-up, businessman and anti-corruption campaigner Martin Fayulu, has said he will file a court challenge to the election results on Saturday morning.

His opposition coalition says Fayulu won 61 percent of the vote, citing figures compiled by the influential Catholic Church’s election observers. The coalition says the figures show Tshieskedi received 18 percent.

The electoral commission says the date for the presidential inauguration is Jan. 22.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>KINSHASA - Martin Fayulu, who came second in DR Congo's presidential election, has appealed to the Constitutional Court to annul the provisional result which awarded victory to his opposition rival Felix Tshisekedi, his lawyer said Saturday.

"The request seeks the annulment of the result declaring Felix Tshisekedi president," Feli Ekombe told reporters outside the court, saying "it was filed yesterday [Friday]".

Parties supporting outgoing President Joseph Kabila won a majority in the National Assembly in long-delayed legislative elections, according to an AFP tally of results released early Saturday by the electoral commission.

Pro-Kabila parties had passed the 250-seat threshold required to secure a majority in the 500-seat assembly, according to the tally based on information from the Independent National Election Commission (CENI).
The Congolese election commission announces that parties supporting outgoing president Joseph Kabila obtained the majority in the National Assembly.