Congo’s Bemba rejects results indicating Kabila election win

KINSHASA – Congolese presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba’s coalition on Tuesday rejected poll results published so far which showed his rival President Joseph Kabila poised to win a historic election.

The public challenge to polling returns from the October 29 run-off was certain to stir up tensions in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, where four people died on Saturday in gun battles between supporters of the two rivals. The United Nations’ biggest peacekeeping operation – 17 500-strong – is deployed in the vast former Belgian colony, where the first free elections in more than 40 years were aimed at ending years of war and chaos.The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) has not yet declared an official winner.Provisional results from 159 out of 169 constituencies, published late on Monday, gave Kabila 59,2 per cent and 40,8 per cent to Bemba, a former rebel leader who had been serving as Kabila’s vice-president in a transition government.Bemba’s Union for the Nation coalition, which last week denounced “systematic cheating” in the vote counting, accused the electoral authorities on Tuesday of publishing results which “wrongly” indicated a Kabila victory.”This behaviour casts serious doubts on the seriousness and credibility of the Independent Electoral Commission,” the Bemba camp said in a statement read to reporters at a news conference.It said its own calculations showed Bemba ahead in the poll with 52,5 per cent of the vote.”The Union for the Nation will not accept an electoral hold-up that aims to steal the victory from the Congolese people,” it added.Bemba’s coalition said it supported criticisms of the electoral commission made late on Monday by Congo’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Frederic Etsou, who denounced what he called “manoeuvres” in the publication of the results so far.CEI chief Apollinaire Malu Malu rejected the accusations.”On the part of the CEI, we are satisfied with the work we are doing and condemn with all our energy all rumours, disinformation and even unilateral proclamations,” he told reporters.”Only one institution in DRC has the capacity to announce provisional results.That’s the CEI.”Nampa-ReutersThe United Nations’ biggest peacekeeping operation – 17 500-strong – is deployed in the vast former Belgian colony, where the first free elections in more than 40 years were aimed at ending years of war and chaos.The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) has not yet declared an official winner.Provisional results from 159 out of 169 constituencies, published late on Monday, gave Kabila 59,2 per cent and 40,8 per cent to Bemba, a former rebel leader who had been serving as Kabila’s vice-president in a transition government.Bemba’s Union for the Nation coalition, which last week denounced “systematic cheating” in the vote counting, accused the electoral authorities on Tuesday of publishing results which “wrongly” indicated a Kabila victory.”This behaviour casts serious doubts on the seriousness and credibility of the Independent Electoral Commission,” the Bemba camp said in a statement read to reporters at a news conference.It said its own calculations showed Bemba ahead in the poll with 52,5 per cent of the vote.”The Union for the Nation will not accept an electoral hold-up that aims to steal the victory from the Congolese people,” it added.Bemba’s coalition said it supported criticisms of the electoral commission made late on Monday by Congo’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Frederic Etsou, who denounced what he called “manoeuvres” in the publication of the results so far.CEI chief Apollinaire Malu Malu rejected the accusations.”On the part of the CEI, we are satisfied with the work we are doing and condemn with all our energy all rumours, disinformation and even unilateral proclamations,” he told reporters.”Only one institution in DRC has the capacity to announce provisional results.That’s the CEI.”Nampa-Reuters