“I am re-elected president of all the Congolese, it is in a spirit of openness that I will exercise this second mandate,” declared Félix Tshisekedi from his campaign HQ, in front of which hundreds of people had gathered in the rain. sympathizers who welcomed the announcement of the results broadcast on two giant screens with applause and cries of joy.
According to these figures from the electoral commission (Céni), which will have to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court to become final, Félix Tshisekedi, 60 years old, in power since January 2019, is well ahead of his main challenger, the former governor of Katanga (south -est) Moïse Katumbi, credited with 18.08% of the votes.
In this single-round election, next comes Martin Fayulu, unsuccessful candidate in the 2018 presidential election (5.33%), then former Prime Minister (2008-2012) Adolphe Muzito (1.12%). The twenty other candidates, including Dr Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work with women victims of war rape, did not reach 1% of the votes. According to the Ceni, the participation rate in the elections of December 20-21 was 43% of those registered.
“We categorically reject this sham election,” nine opposition candidates launched in a joint statement. “We ask our people, as soon as electoral fraud is announced, to protest massively in the streets,” they added. “It’s a charade,” Martin Fayulu insisted to the press.
“Numerous cases of irregularities”
Félix Tshisekedi’s performance is “beyond all predictions”, notes Trésor Kibangula, political analyst at the Ebuteli research institute. “His campaign dynamic worked,” he told AFP. But the very high scores recorded in certain regions “raise questions” about the “impact of the irregularities” noted by observers.
More than 40 million voters, out of a total of around 100 million inhabitants of the immense Central African country, were called to the polls to elect their president but also their national and provincial deputies and, for the first time , their local advisors.
The quadruple vote was scheduled for December 20. But due to numerous logistical problems, it was extended to the 21st by the Ceni and continued for several days in certain remote areas, until the 27th according to an observation mission from the Catholic and Protestant Churches.
According to its own count, this mission says it has noted that one candidate “significantly stood out from the others, with more than half of the votes alone”. She adds, however, that she has “documented numerous cases of irregularities likely to affect the integrity of the results of different ballots in certain places.”
Post-election tensions are feared in a country with a turbulent and often violent political history, a subsoil very rich in minerals but a predominantly poor population.
The authorities, who banned a first protest meeting last Wednesday, affirm that all measures have been taken to prevent excesses, particularly in the mining southeast, the electoral stronghold of Moïse Katumbi.
“A lot of uncertainties”
According to AFP teams, reinforced security measures were visible on Sunday in different points of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, the provincial capital of Haut-Katanga.
The government also recalls that electoral disputes must be brought before the Constitutional Court. But most of the opponents retort that they will not seize this court in which they have no confidence, any more than in the Ceni which they consider subservient to power.
In these conditions, what will the opposition do? “Reactivating the streets against the victory of Félix Tshisekedi would be very complicated, especially in Kinshasa,” believes Trésor Kibangula. “All eyes are turning to the southeast… There are a lot of uncertainties,” he said.
In addition to the tense political climate, the electoral campaign was poisoned by the security situation in eastern DRC, which has been experiencing a peak of tension for two years with the resurgence of the M23 rebellion, supported by neighboring Rwanda.
Some candidates, Moïse Katumbi in particular, were accused of being “foreigners”, a way of discrediting them in a country scarred by years of conflict. According to the Ebuteli analyst, the identity discourses of the campaign “created fractures in Congolese society”.