Masses canceled in DR-Congo after contested presidential election results

Churches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had originally planned to mark New Year’s Eve with Masses and thanksgiving services. But everything was canceled at the last minute after the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced at 2 p.m. on December 3 the provisional results of the nation’s presidential election. 

We took precautions regarding the reactions of various groups after the publication of the results, which led to the cancellation of the thanksgiving Mass scheduled for 5:30 PM, followed by a praise and thanksgiving evening, explained Christian Ndoki, the Catholic priest who serves as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Parish in the capital Kinshasa.

Many Congolese Christians who were accustomed to celebrating New Year’s Eve in their local churches were forced to stay home to follow the presidential election results, which were announced after days of uncertainty and a failed opposition protest on December 27, which was dispersed by the police.

The news of Félix Tshisekedi’s victory, who was declared the winner with 73.34% of the vote in the provisional results published by CENI, was received calmly by the Congolese people, ahead of Moïse Katumbi (18.08%) and Martin Fayulu (5.33%). For several days, partial results compiled by CENI had been circulating in the media and on social networks, gradually establishing President Tshisekedi as the favorite.

While Bernard Kayumba, a Member of Parliament in Tshisekedi’s Sacred Union Party, stated that everything happened transparently, opposition candidates are demanding the annulment of the elections due to irregularities observed during the electoral process.

Not everyone agreed, however.

On the contrary, we all know that Félix Tshisekedi cannot win a regularly organized election in the DRC, declared Fayuluin a New Year’s message to the nation on January 1

The opposition leader said he did completely reject the election charades and the fanciful results from CENI and called on the people to protest against this new coup d’état executed by CENI in favor of Tshisekedi Tshilombo .