Kabila wins DR Congo vote, opponent declares self president

KINSHASA - Incumbent Joseph Kabila was declared the winner Friday of DR Congos election but his rival Etienne Tshisekedi rejected the result and declared himself president, raising fears of civil unrest.

The elections, just the second in the Democratic Republic of Congo since back-to-back wars from 1996 to 2003, have raised fears of fresh unrest, and Tshisekedi made a veiled threat of violence if Kabilas win was allowed to stand.

I consider this (result) declaration an outright provocation to our people and I reject it in full. As a result, I consider myself from this day on as the elected president, he said in a statement.
I call on the international community, which has relentlessly encouraged me to guarantee a peaceful process, to not only find a solution to this problem but take all possible measures so that the blood of the Congolese people is not spilled again.

Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, secured 49 percent of the vote while Tshisekedi only mustered 32.3 percent, according to the provisional results read out by the head of the election commission after a marathon 11-day wait for the outcome of the November 28 polls.

The result hands Kabila another five-year term after constitutional changes in January scrapped two-round elections for a single-round system.

The supreme court has until December 17 to hear election disputes, review the provisional results and and declare the definitive winner.
But with the court seen as close to Kabila he expanded it from seven to 27 judges at the start of the campaign analysts warn Tshisekedis supporters are likely to take their grievances to the street.

After the results were read, victory cheers erupted in Kinshasas posh Gombe neighbourhood, where many ministries and embassies are located.

A caravan of honking cars and trucks loaded with celebrating Kabila supporters soon filled the streets.

Outside the headquarters of Tshisekedis party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS),! opposit ion supporters said the fight wasnt finished.

We lost the battle but we havent lost the war, a young man told AFP.
Tshisekedi, who calls his supporters fighters, told them Friday: I exhort you to stick together as one man behind me to face the events that will follow.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is two-thirds the size of Western Europe, has crumbling infrastructure and has been brought to its knees by successive conflicts.

The campaign was also marred by violence that Human Rights Watch said left at least 18 civilians dead, most of them shot by government forces.

Opposition parties have said the repeated delays in the polling bodys announcement of the results raised suspicion that it was trying to rig the count.

The election commission has been criticised by international observers for a lack of transparency in the counting process and repeatedly postponed declaring the winner.
Observers have criticised the CENIs performance, though it answered some of their concerns Friday by releasing full results for all 64,000 polling stations.

Several protests among the diaspora turned violent in recent days and panic gripped parts of Kinshasa as the rhetoric escalated between the two rival camps, and thousands of people fled across the Congo river to the neighbouring capital of Brazzaville.

But the army put some 20,000 soldiers on standby in Kinshasa to prevent the tension from spilling over and the last few days before Fridays announcement passed without major incident.

State TV station RTNC has had an anti-violence public service announcement on regular rotation, displaying images from previous wars and conflicts in the restive central African country to a song that implores viewers: Dont do this to our Congo.

Parliamentary polls were also held on November 28. Provisional results are expected in mid-January.