Congo presidential loser rejects surprise result as “coup”

(Reuters) – Supporters of Congo’s president-elect celebrated an
unlikely win on Thursday, but the runner-up denounced a fix and
France, Belgium and the Catholic Church all cast doubt on the
results.

A chaotic vote in the vast and volatile nation of 80 million
people has raised fears of renewed violence, and at least two
people were killed in clashes at one town in the west.

But most parts of the country were calm.

The electoral commission (CENI) announced around 3 a.m. (0200
GMT) that opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi, 55, had won the Dec.
30 vote, edging out another opposition candidate, businessman
Martin Fayulu.

Fayulu called the results an “electoral coup” engineered by
outgoing President Joseph Kabila to deny him the presidency.

France said the outcome was at odds with tallies provided by
observers from the Catholic Church. These showed Fayulu winning,
according to three diplomats briefed on the findings.

Publicly, the church said its tally did not match official
results.

Anger over the results, and particularly the Fayulu camp’s
suspicions that Tshisekedi won by cutting a power-sharing deal with
Kabila, could cast a cloud over what is meant to be Congo’s first
democratic transfer of power in 59 years of independence.

Tshisekedi’s camp has acknowledged contact with Kabila’s
representatives since the election but said they were aimed at
ensuring a peaceful transition and denied a deal.

In contrast to previous polls, election officials did not
provide a regional breakdown of the results.

Reaction across the country was mixed.

In the town of Kikwit, 500 km (310 miles) from the capital
Kinshasa, early on Thursday, security forces opened fire after
crowds attacked symbols of government. At least two people died in
the melee, a local journalist and a U.N. source said.

There were celebrations in parts of Kinshasa and the south of
the country, where Tshisekedi has broad support. Towns in Katanga,
the eastern mining heartland, were calm.

But protests were reported in the central town of Kisangani, and
Fayulu supporters vented their frustrations.

“We will never accept this nomination. It’s not a victory for
Felix. CENI has appointed him,” said Georges Bingi, a member of
Fayulu’s party in the eastern city of Goma.

Fayulu can appeal the results to Congo’s constitutional court
but has not yet indicated whether he will. By contrast, the
campaign of Kabila’s hand-picked candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani
Shadary, who finished a distant third, conceded.

“Of course we are not happy as our candidate lost, but the
Congolese people have chosen, and democracy has triumphed,” Shadary
spokesman Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi told Reuters.

WHITHER KABILA?
Tshisekedi’s win raises questions over the future of Kabila, who
has governed since his father’s assassination in 2001 and
overstayed the official end of his mandate by two years.

Kabila said before the vote he planned to remain involved in
politics and could not rule out running again for president in
2023, when he will no longer be term-limited.

Tshisekedi inherited the leadership of the UDPS party when his
father, Etienne, died in 2017. But he lacks the experience,
political clout and firebrand reputation his father earned during
years campaigning for democracy under three successive
presidents.

No details of any deal have emerged. But in the run up to the
results, Tshisekedi said Kabila had nothing to fear should he come
to power, comments analysts interpreted as efforts to reassure the
president and his supporters that interests accumulated over two
decades in power were not at risk.

Fayulu, however, is backed by ex-rebel Jean-Pierre Bemba and
former governor Moise Katumbi, two of Kabila’s fiercest rivals.

Any escalation in the Fayulu camp’s rhetoric or actions risks
igniting Congo’s cycle of unrest, particularly in the volatile
eastern borderlands where he enjoyed strong support and dozens of
militia groups are active.

It is unclear whether voting will ever be held in parts of
eastern Congo where the election was delayed – disenfranchising
more than 1.2 million people – due to concerns about Ebola and
violence. Tshisekedi’s margin over Fayulu was less than 700,000
votes, according to the official results.

Members of Tshisekedi’s UDPS party called the election a
historic triumph in a struggle for democracy.

The inauguration was scheduled for Jan. 18.

“Today marks the liberation of the people,” said Simphora
Biduaya, a candidate for provincial assembly in the east.

But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tshisekedi’s
victory contrasted with observations in the field.

“We must have clarity on these results, which are the opposite
to what we expected,” Le Drian told CNews.

Belgium said it would use its temporary seat on the U.N.
Security Council to also seek clarification.

If Tshisekedi’s victory is confirmed in the next 10 days by the
constitutional court, he will become the first leader to take power
at the ballot box since Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. He was
toppled in a coup less than three months after independence in 1960
and killed four months later.