A week after the elections, the situation is tense in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the publication of partial results giving a large lead to the outgoing president continues, while the opposition calls for the pure and simple cancellation of what she describes as a “sham election”.
On Wednesday in Kinshasa, a large police presence prevented the holding of a demonstration, banned by the authorities, to which several opponents, candidates for the presidential elections of December 20 and 21, had called.
This march “aims to undermine the electoral process, the government of the Republic cannot accept this”, declared Tuesday the Minister of the Interior, Peter Kazadi.
From the beginning of the morning, riot police had been positioned around the People’s Palace, seat of Parliament, from where the march was supposed to leave in the direction of the Electoral Commission (CÉNI).
They notably used tear gas against supporters of opponent Martin Fayulu, gathered in front of his party’s nearby headquarters, while other demonstrators set tires on fire on the road.
For almost an hour, an exchange of stone throwing against tear gas pitted activists entrenched on the first floor of the building against the police officers who had taken over the scene.
According to Martin Fayulu, at least 11 activists were injured.
General Blaise Kilimbambalimba, Kinshasa police chief, for his part declared that two police officers had been injured “by stone throwing”. The officer also claimed that “minors” were at the site of the demonstration. “The organizer will be questioned to justify” this presence, he said.
On December 20, nearly 44 million voters were called to elect their president, their national and provincial deputies and their municipal councilors. Due to numerous logistical problems, the quadruple voting was extended, officially by one day, and continued until Christmas in some remote areas.
According to partial results of the presidential election published Wednesday at the end of the day by the CÉNI, the outgoing head of state, Félix Tshisekedi, comes well ahead, with more than 79% of the votes.
A long-established program by the CÉNI provides for the publication of the complete provisional results of the presidential election on December 31.
“We will never accept this sham election and these results,” the result of “organized, planned fraud,” declared Mr. Fayulu.
“Chaos will not happen”
According to the latest available figures, relating to approximately 8.8 million votes counted, Moïse Katumbi, former governor of the mining region of Katanga, would come in second position, with 14.7% of the votes, followed by Mr. Fayulu (3, 45%).
The other candidates, who were around twenty, would not reach 1% of the votes. Among them, the Dr Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018 for his action with women victims of war rape, would be in 5e position, with 0.26%.
As early as December 20, opponents had described the elections as “total chaos” and denounced “irregularities”. The Archbishop of Kinshasa considered that the vote had been “a gigantic organized disorder”.
Like around fifteen embassies before him, the prelate called for “restraint”.
Tensions are feared when the winner of the presidential election is announced, in a country with a turbulent and often violent political history, with a subsoil immensely rich in minerals but with a predominantly poor population.
“We have taken all measures so that peace reigns,” assured the Minister of the Interior on Tuesday, particularly in Lubumbashi, stronghold of Moïse Katumbi, where elements of the army were deployed during the Christmas weekend. .
“Chaos has not happened and it will not happen,” said government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya alongside him.
“The opposition should wait until the end of the publication of the provisional results […] to challenge them before the Court [constitutionnelle] as provided for by law,” he insisted on X (ex-Twitter).