Western governments name for restraint amid fears of a repeat of violence that has adopted previous elections.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) presidential election is dealing with a disaster of legitimacy amid opposition requires the vote to be annulled because of alleged fraud.
5 opposition candidates, together with former provincial Governor Moise Katumbi, mentioned on Saturday the vote shouldn’t stand because it had been tainted by “massive fraud.”
5 different opposition leaders, together with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege and former oil government Martin Fayulu, have known as for a protest march in opposition to the consequence subsequent Wednesday.
“We will protest against the irregularities noted during the voting operations,” they mentioned in a letter to the governor of Kinshasa, the place they plan to rally.
About 44 million folks within the mineral-rich Central African nation had been registered to vote within the elections to decide on the nation’s president, nationwide and regional lawmakers, and native councillors.
President Felix Tshisekedi, who had a sizeable lead in preliminary outcomes of voting by diaspora voters, is operating for re-election in opposition to 18 opposition candidates.
Western governments have known as for restraint amid fears of a repeat of the violence that has adopted disputed election outcomes up to now.
In a joint assertion on Saturday, 12 European embassies and the Canadian embassy known as for restraint.
“As the vote counting continues, we urge all stakeholders, especially political actors, candidates and their supporters, to exercise restraint, allow the process to unfold, and raise their concerns peacefully,” the embassies mentioned.
The vote has been marred by accusations of corruption and chaotic organisation because it kicked off on Wednesday, with authorities extending the ballot into Thursday after some polling stations did not open and a few voters couldn’t discover their names on registers.
Whereas electoral authorities formally prolonged the vote solely till Thursday, ballots had been nonetheless being solid on Saturday in distant areas.
The unscheduled extension prompted fierce pushback from opposition candidates, a few of whom labelled the transfer unconstitutional and known as for a brand new election.
Impartial observers have raised considerations concerning the vote, with the United States-based Carter Heart describing “serious irregularities” at 21 out of 109 polling stations it visited and noting “a lack of confidence in the process”.
The DRC, which is likely one of the world’s poorest nations regardless of holding huge reserves of copper, cobalt and gold, has a historical past of election-related violence.
At the very least 19 folks had been killed in election-related violence within the run-up to the vote.
Tshisekedi’s election as president in 2018 was additionally marred by accusations of fraud.
At the very least 34 folks have been killed and 59 others wounded in protests associated to the vote, in keeping with the United Nations.