Image copyright AFP Image caption Election officials say not all of the votes have yet been counted

The results of last week's presidential vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo will not be published on Sunday, officials say, despite growing calls for the outcome to be announced.

The head of the electoral commission said this was because less than half the ballots had arrived.

His spokesman told the BBC a meeting would be held on Sunday over the delay.

The Catholic Church, which fielded thousands of observers, said on Thursday there was a clear winner.

It called for the result to be made public to avoid political unrest.

This drew an angry response from the coalition in power which said the church was "doing something illegal" and accused it of "preparing the population for insurrection".

The Church had been vocal in its opposition to the extension of President Joseph Kabila's rule.

He is stepping down after 17 years in office and has promised DR Congo's first orderly transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

The official result was due to be announced on Sunday, although the electoral commission had warned a few days ago this could be delayed.

The head of the commission, Corneille Nangaa, said on Saturday that less than half of all the votes had been counted.

"It is not possible to publish the results on Sunday. We are making progress, but we do not have everything yet." No date for the announcement was given.

Image caption The Catholic Church says it knows who won the election but declined to name the winner

On Thursday, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco) - which deployed some 40,000 election observers on voting day - said there was a clear winner based on its tally of the votes.

They did not name anyone but urged election officials "to publish the election results in keeping with truth and justice".

The ruling FCC (Common Front for the Congo) told the BBC only the electoral commission is officially allowed to announce results.

Who's running for president?

Image copyright AFP/Reuters Image caption Opposition candidates Martin Fayulu (L) and Felix Tshisekedi (R) face Emmanuel Shadary (C), the former interior minister

There are 21 candidates, but three frontrunners:

Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary , a former interior minister and Kabila loyalist, who was hit by European Union sanctions for his role in the violent suppression of opposition protests in 2017

, a former interior minister and Kabila loyalist, who was hit by European Union sanctions for his role in the violent suppression of opposition protests in 2017 Martin Fayulu , a former oil executive who has promised "a dignified and prosperous Congo", but who poor Congolese feel may not advance their cause

, a former oil executive who has promised "a dignified and prosperous Congo", but who poor Congolese feel may not advance their cause Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the son of a late veteran opposition leader who has promised to make the fight against poverty his priority

What's the background?

Mr Kabila took over from his assassinated father Laurent in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and secured another term in controversial elections in 2011.

He was barred from running for another term under the constitution, and was supposed to step down two years ago, but the election was postponed after the electoral commission said it needed more time to register voters.

Image copyright AFP Image caption President Joseph Kabila is stepping down after 17 years in power

The decision triggered violent clashes, as the opposition accused Mr Kabila of trying to cling on to power.

The run-up to this poll was also hit by controversy over the exclusion of some 1.26 million voters, out of an electorate of nearly 40 million.

The electoral commission said voting could not take place in the eastern cities of Beni and Butembo because of a deadly Ebola outbreak in the region. Voting was also called off in the western city of Yumbi because of insecurity there.</s>The announcement of the results of the Congo's presidential election has been postponed, the country's top electoral official said.

The winner of the Dec. 30 election will not be made public Sunday as expected, the head of the national electoral commission Corneille Nangaa told The Associated Press. The electoral commission will confirm the delay later Sunday.

The postponement in announcing the winner may increase tensions, as some Congolese see it as a way for President Joseph Kabila's ruling party to manipulate the results in order to cling to power.

The Catholic Church, an influential voice in this strongly Catholic nation, said that it already knows there is a clear victor, according to data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in polling stations. The church urged the electoral commission to announce accurate results.

As regulations say only the electoral commission can announce election results, the church did name the winner. The government has already cut internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who might have won the election.

Congo faces what could be its first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Election observers and the opposition have raised concerns about voting irregularities as the country chooses a successor to longtime ruler Kabila, although a landslide win by one of the opposition candidates could remove any doubts that the election was skewed to the ruling party's candidate.

The United States and the African Union, among others, have urged Congo to release results that reflect the true will of the people. The U.S. has threatened sanctions against those who undermine the democratic process. Western election observers were not invited to watch the vote.

While Congo has been largely calm on and after the Dec. 30 vote, President Donald Trump informed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that about 80 military personnel and "appropriate combat equipment" had been deployed to neighboring Gabon to support the security of U.S. citizens and staffers and diplomatic facilities. More will be deployed as needed to Gabon, Congo or neighboring Republic of Congo, he wrote.

Ahead of the vote, the U.S. ordered "non-emergency" government employees and family members to leave the country.

Congo's ruling party, which backs Kabila's preferred candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, has called the church's attitude "irresponsible and anarchist."

Leading opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, a businessman and lawmaker, has accused Congolese authorities of impeding his campaign. His campaign manager, Pierre Lumbi, on Saturday accused the electoral commission of being "in the process of postponing the publication of the results."

The delay is because of the slow compilation of the results by electoral officials. By Friday evening, the commission had compiled only 44 percent of results, said Jean-Pierre Kalamba, who said the process had been slowed by the requirement that only manually counted ballots could be used.

At stake is a vast country rich in the minerals that power the world's mobile phones and laptops, yet desperately underdeveloped. Some 40 million people were registered to vote, though at the last minute about 1 million voters were barred by the electoral commission which cited a deadly Ebola virus outbreak in eastern Congo. The eastern region is an opposition center and critics said the disenfranchisement of voters there undermines the election's credibility.

The presidential election took place more than two years behind schedule, while a court ruled that Kabila could stay in office until the vote was held. The delay led to sometimes deadly protests as authorities cracked down, and Shadary is now under European Union sanctions for his role in the crackdown as interior minister at the time.

Kabila, who took office in 2001 after his father was assassinated, is barred from serving three consecutive terms but has hinted that he could run again in 2023. That has led many Congolese to suspect that he will rule from the shadows if Shadary takes office.

Internet and text messaging services were cut off the day after the election in an apparent effort by the government to prevent social media speculation about the results. The U.S. has urged the government to restore internet service, and a U.N. human rights spokeswoman has warned that "these efforts to silence dissent could backfire considerably when the results are announced."</s>Congo's top electoral official says the announcement of the results of the presidential election has been postponed.

Corneille Nangaa told The Associated Press that the results of the Dec. 30 election will not be made public Sunday as expected. He said the official electoral commission will confirm the delay later Sunday.

The postponement in announcing the results is expected to increase tensions in Congo.

The Catholic Church, an influential voice in the heavily Catholic nation, said that data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in polling stations show a clear winner. The church urged the electoral commission to announce accurate results.

The government has already cut internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who might have won the election.</s>Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the announcement of the results of the presidential election has been postponed.

Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the announcement of the results of the presidential election has been postponed.

Corneille Nangaa said that the results of the December 30 election will not be made public on Sunday as expected.

He said the official electoral commission will confirm the delay later in the day.

The postponement in announcing the results is expected to increase tensions in the African state.

The Catholic Church, an influential voice in the heavily Catholic nation, said that data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in polling stations show a clear winner.

The church urged the electoral commission to announce accurate results.

The government has already cut internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who might have won the election.</s>KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Congo's top electoral official says the announcement of the results of the presidential election has been postponed.

Corneille Nangaa told The Associated Press that the results of the Dec. 30 election will not be made public Sunday as expected. He said the official electoral commission will confirm the delay later Sunday.

The postponement in announcing the results is expected to increase tensions in Congo.

The Catholic Church, an influential voice in the heavily Catholic nation, said that data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in polling stations show a clear winner. The church urged the electoral commission to announce accurate results.

The government has already cut internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who might have won the election.

This photo taken Friday Jan. 4, 2019 shows a blackboard with presidential election results for that specific polling station, in a school in Kinshasa, Congo. Congo faces what could be its first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, but election observers and the opposition have raised numerous concerns about voting irregularities as the country chooses a successor to longtime President Joseph Kabila. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)</s>Congo's government Sunday postponed the release of the results of last weekend's presidential election, fueling suspicions President Joseph Kabila's ruling party is maneuvering to cling to power.

No new date for announcing the winner of the Dec. 30 election was given. Electoral officials have compiled 53 percent of the votes and will not release any information until all the ballots have been tallied, said Corneille Nangaa, head of the electoral commission.

"We handle sensitive data and have to handle it responsibly," he said. He asked Congo's people to "remain patient."

"We are aware this process has always been surrounded by distrust," he said, referring to calls from the Catholic Church, the African Union, the U.S. and other diplomats for the government to announce accurate results.

Kabila, who is stepping down after 18 years in power, had delayed the election for two years. The postponement in announcing the winner was seen by some Congolese as part of an effort by Kabila's party to manipulate the results in order to claim victory.

The Catholic Church, an influential voice in this heavily Catholic nation, has turned up the pressure by saying it already knows there is a clear victor, based on data compiled by the church's 40,000 election observers.

Because Congo's regulations say only the electoral commission can announce election results, the church did not name the winner.

Congo's ruling party, which backs Kabila's preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, called the church's statement "irresponsible and anarchist."

The leading opposition candidate is Martin Fayulu, a businessman and lawmaker,

This could be Congo's first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

For the past week, the government cut off internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who won. The government has also blocked transmissions from Radio France International, which was alleged to have speculated on the winner of the election, and revoked the press credentials of RFI's correspondent.

Election observers and the opposition have raised concerns about voting irregularities, including the government's decision to bar 1 million voters in eastern Congo from casting ballots because of what it said was the Ebola outbreak in the region. Eastern Congo is known as a center of the opposition.

Western observers were not invited to watch the balloting, and the U.S. has threatened sanctions against those who undermine the democratic process.

While Congo was largely calm during and after the voting, President Donald Trump said about 80 military personnel and combat equipment had been deployed to neighboring Gabon to protect U.S. citizens and diplomatic facilities in Congo.

Ahead of the vote, the U.S. ordered non-emergency government employees and family members to leave the country.

At stake is a vast country rich in the minerals that power the world's mobile phones and laptops, yet desperately underdeveloped. Some 40 million people were registered to vote, though at the last minute about 1 million were barred from doing so by the electoral commission, which cited the deadly Ebola outbreak in the eastern part of the country — a center of Congo's political opposition.

Kabila, who took office in 2001 after his father was assassinated, is constitutionally barred from serving three consecutive terms but has hinted he may run again in 2023. That has led many Congolese to suspect that he will rule from the shadows if Shadary takes office.</s>KINSHASA, Congo — Congo's government Sunday postponed the release of the results of last weekend's presidential election, fuelling suspicions President Joseph Kabila's ruling party is manoeuvring to cling to power.

No new date for announcing the winner of the Dec. 30 election was given. Electoral officials have compiled 53 per cent of the votes and will not release any information until all the ballots have been tallied, said Corneille Nangaa, head of the electoral commission.

"We handle sensitive data and have to handle it responsibly," he said. He asked Congo's people to "remain patient."

"We are aware this process has always been surrounded by distrust," he said, referring to calls from the Catholic Church, the African Union, the U.S. and other diplomats for the government to announce accurate results.

Kabila, who is stepping down after 18 years in power, had delayed the election for two years. The postponement in announcing the winner was seen by some Congolese as part of an effort by Kabila's party to manipulate the results in order to claim victory.

The Catholic Church, an influential voice in this heavily Catholic nation, turned up the pressure by saying it already knows there is a clear victor, based on data compiled by the church's 40,000 election observers. Because Congo's regulations say only the electoral commission can announce election results, the church did not name the winner.

Congo's ruling party, which backs Kabila's preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, called the church's statement "irresponsible and anarchist."

The leading opposition candidate is Martin Fayulu, a businessman and lawmaker.

This could be Congo's first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

For the past week, the government cut off internet access across the vast Central African country to prevent any speculation on social media about who won. The government has also blocked transmissions from Radio France International, which was alleged to have speculated on the winner, and revoked the press credentials of RFI's correspondent.</s>Election officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have delayed publishing the results of last Sunday's presidential vote, despite growing calls for the outcome to be announced.

The electoral commission said the result would be revealed "next week".

Earlier this week the influential Catholic Church, which fielded thousands of election observers, said there was a clear winner.

It called for the result to be made public to avoid political unrest.

This drew an angry response from the coalition in power which said the church was "doing something illegal" and accused it of "preparing the population for insurrection".

The Church had been vocal in its opposition to the extension of President Joseph Kabila's rule.

He is stepping down after 17 years in office and has promised DR Congo's first orderly transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
• Five things to know about DRC

The official result was due to be announced on Sunday, although the electoral commission had warned a few days ago this could be delayed.

The head of the commission, Corneille Nangaa, said on Saturday that less than half of all the votes had been counted.

"It is not possible to publish the results on Sunday. We are making progress, but we do not have everything yet." No date for the announcement was given.

On Thursday, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco) - which deployed some 40,000 election observers on voting day - said there was a clear winner based on its tally of the votes.

They did not name anyone but urged election officials "to publish the election results in keeping with truth and justice".

The ruling FCC (Common Front for the Congo) told the BBC only the electoral commission is officially allowed to announce results.

There are 21 candidates, but three frontrunners:
• Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, a former interior minister and Kabila loyalist, who was hit by European Union sanctions for his role in the violent suppression of opposition protests in 2017
• Martin Fayulu, a former oil executive who has promised "a dignified and prosperous Congo", but who poor Congolese feel may not advance their cause
• Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the son of a late veteran opposition leader who has promised to make the fight against poverty his priority

Mr Kabila took over from his assassinated father Laurent in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and secured another term in controversial elections in 2011.

He was barred from running for another term under the constitution, and was supposed to step down two years ago, but the election was postponed after the electoral commission said it needed more time to register voters.

The decision triggered violent clashes, as the opposition accused Mr Kabila of trying to cling on to power.

The run-up to this poll was also hit by controversy over the exclusion of some 1.26 million voters, out of an electorate of nearly 40 million.

The electoral commission said voting could not take place in the eastern cities of Beni and Butembo because of a deadly Ebola outbreak in the region. Voting was also called off in the western city of Yumbi because of insecurity there.</s>“It’s not possible to publish results on Sunday,” said electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa, according to the AFP news agency. “We are making progress, but we do not have everything yet,” he added, without giving more detail on the expected date.

Provisional results from the contentious polls were expected on Sunday and the Catholic Church has said it knows the winner according to its own unofficial tallies. The Church on Saturday answered allegations by the electoral commission that it was hoping to stoke an “insurrection”.

“We are surprised by the allegations of ‘systematically violating legal provisions relating to the organisation of elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo,’” wrote Marcel Utembi Tapa, president of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco).

“It is unfortunate to accuse Cenco of ‘intoxicating the population by preparing an uprising for which Cenco will be solely responsible’ and to make it a possible scapegoat,” said the Cenco statement.

“It is the [electoral] irregularities that would irritate the population and the most serious thing that could lead the Congolese people to revolt would be to publish results … which do not conform to the truth of the polls,” said Cenco.

The electoral commission had said that Cenco was attempting to “brainwash the population” through its comments about the possible victor in the 30 December elections, according to a letter from Corneille Nangaa, the electoral commission’s chief.

Cenco has suggested it knows the winner of the polls owing to unofficial tallies it carried out as part of a 40,000-strong observation mission.

“We have observed that the Congolese people have chosen a candidate as president of the republic,” Donatien Nshole, secretary general of Cenco, told RFI’s Sonia Rolley in an interview broadcast on Friday. “It is not up to us to proclaim the results,” he said, adding that it was the responsibility of the electoral commission.

Nshole said their observation mission had noted irregularities, but that they were not enough to “impede” the choice expressed by the Congolese people. “The will of the Congolese people has been respected, at least at the polls,” he added.

Catholic bishops met with President Joseph Kabila on Friday, according to reports from the Reuters news agency.

The UN Security Council held a meeting on Friday about the latest developments in the DRC. The closed door meeting was held at France’s request, but a joint Security Council declaration was blocked by South Africa, Russia, China and Indonesia, according to sources who spoke to RFI’s Sonia Rolley.

“The results that will be proclaimed must be consistent with the vote of the Congolese people,” said Francois Delattre, France’s UN ambassador, on the sidelines of the UN Security Council meeting.

The EU on Friday called on election authorities to ensure that the results reflected the will of the Congolese people.

“All the political actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo have the responsibility to contribute to the success of this transition in the spirit of peace and reconciliation,” said a statement from a spokesperson for the EU’s external action service.

The African’s Union top diplomat Moussa Faki Mahamat said that “respect of the election results is crucial” in a tweet after meeting with Dioncounda Traoré, head of the AU’s observer mission.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that American soldiers had deployed to Gabon in case they are needed to protect US citizens and diplomatic buildings in the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

A letter from Trump said 80 military personnel had been put in place with “appropriate combat equipment” in response to the possibility that “violent demonstrations” may occur in reaction to elections.</s>KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s historic yet disorganized election suffered yet another delay on Sunday as the election commission admitted it had tabulated only about half of results on the day it was supposed to have completed the count. It did not say when it would be able to release results.

The delay fuels suspicions that the election commission is compromised and using the borrowed time to rig results in favor of president Joseph Kabila’s chosen successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. A vote widely perceived to have been manipulated could trigger violence in Congo, which has been plagued by civil wars and insurrections for decades.

Congo voted on Dec. 30 to replace Kabila, who is stepping down after 18 years in power. Shadary is up against two main opposition candidates, Martin Fayulu and Felix Tshisekedi. The vote was initially scheduled for 2016, but Kabila repeatedly delayed it, staying on two years past his constitutionally mandated term limit.

Most foreign election observers were either not invited or not accredited, but the vote was overseen at least partially by 40,000 observers from Congo’s powerful Catholic Church. That mission, known as CENCO, announced Thursday that its own tallies showed a clear win for Fayulu. Fayulu told The Post that his team had “extremely conclusive” evidence that he had won.

The electoral commission responded with anger to the statement from the observer mission, saying it was “likely to brainwash the population while preparing an insurrection that CENCO alone will be responsible for.”

The ruling coalition called CENCO’s statement “irresponsible and anarchic,” adding that only the election commission was legally allowed to release results.

CENCO’s report also said that 38 percent of polling stations that it observed were missing materials at the start of election day, and that in hundreds of cases ballot boxes were not sealed before counting and polling stations did not properly verify voters’ identities. CENCO’s report was particularly powerful because nearly half of Congo is Catholic, and the church has been a consistent thorn in Kabila’s side.

Congo’s government has shut off Internet and text-messaging capabilities in most of the country since the day after elections, and maintains that those services will remain unavailable until official results are released to prevent the sharing of doctored results.

A win by Fayulu that is recognized by Kabila’s party would mark a historic break for Congo, which has never experienced a peaceful, democratic transition of power. Fayulu is a former employee of the Exxon oil company who has been a member of Congo’s parliament for more than a decade. He is now backed by two regional political heavyweights, one of whom was recently acquitted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.

The United States government has been the loudest foreign voice of consternation at the vote’s irregularities. A State Department spokesman urged the election commission on Friday to release accurate results and said those that prevent a fair count would be subject to U.S. sanctions.

“There are moments in every nation’s history when individuals and political leaders step forward and do the right thing. This is one of those moments for the DRC,” said Robert Palladino. “Those who undermine the democratic process, threaten the peace, security or stability of the DRC, or benefit from corruption may find themselves not welcome in the United States and cut off from the U.S. financial system.”

President Trump said Friday that 80 U.S. military personnel had deployed to nearby Gabon in anticipation of violent demonstrations stemming from a disputed results announcement. Evacuation of American nationals appeared to be their main mission, but many in Congo read the deployment as a form of pressure on the government as well.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Trump said the troops “will remain in the region until the security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes such that their presence is no longer needed.”

South Africa, Russia and China expressed dismay at CENCO’s statement, saying the election commission was the only institution whose announcement would be considered official. China, a major investor in Congo, “lauded the manner in which elections were conducted,” a report from the U.N. Security Council said on Saturday.

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The Congolese election commission delays announcing the results of the recent election, claiming that only half the ballots have been counted.