DR Congo government rules out election re-run

STORY: Democratic Republic of Congo will not cancel the results of last week’s presidential election, a government spokesperson said on Thursday (December 28), despite repeated calls from the opposition for a re-run.

Those comments also coming a day after police forcibly broke up a banned protest march in Kinshasa over how the December 20 poll was conducted.

Mounting tensions over the election threaten to further destabilize the world’s top cobalt producer, which is already grappling with a security crisis in the country’s east.

The opposition says voting was marred by widespread irregularities and fraud. That’s denied by the electoral commission, CENI.

Its provisional results have, so far, put incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi well ahead of his opponents.

The opposition and independent observers question the legitimacy of CENI’s figures.

They’ve accused the electoral commission of failing to follow correct procedures for the tabulation and publishing of results, in addition to election day issues.

But government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said the opposition should wait until full results are published and challenge them in the courts if necessary.

« Since they started the match, » he said, « they should wait to see the end of the match. »

The team of Moise Katumbi, one of Tshisekedi’s main challengers, has ruled out using they courts.

They argue that state institutions are committed to tipping the vote in the president’s favor – and, like other opposition parties, say the election should be annulled.