Post-Election Tensions Grip Congo

Incumbent candidate Joseph Kabila was declared the winner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Presidential election today, despite allegations of electoral fraud from his main political opponent Etienne Tshisekedi, who has already said he would not recognize the results. 

With the United Nations presence winding down in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after over a decade long peacekeeping mission, observers fear growing tensions over the contested elections could lead to renewed violence and political instability.

The international community has invested billions of dollars trying to strengthen government institutions and improve the security situation in a country where 4 over million people died from war between 1997-2004. A state security force crackdown against the civilian population or violent uprising against the government would be a serious blow to UN efforts in the region. 

The country’s electoral commission said Kabila had secured 49% of the popular vote,while Tshisekedi received 32% support.

The Commission had planned to release the final results days ago, but logistical problems delayed the official announcement and instead it released results as they became available.

Preliminary numbers giving Kabila a comfortable lead were rejected as fraudulent by Tshisekedi supporters and other opposition groups earlier this week.

In a television interview with French news network France 24 shortly after Kabila was declared the winner today, Tshisekedi again categorically rejected the results.  

“I consider myself, from this point forward today, the President elect of the Democratic Republic of the Congo” he said over the phone from Kinshasa.

Tshisekedi called on the international to community to intervene and urged his supporters to remain calm and vigilant while waiting for the next developments. 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon today released a statement urging that:” any differences regarding the provisional results of the polls to be resolved peacefully through available legal and mediation mechanisms.”

Tshisekedi told France 24 today that Congolese institutions were controlled by Kabila and couldn’t be trusted to resolve the situation. 

The UN has so far refused to comment on allegations of voter fraud or election rigging, instead reiterating calls for the country’s political leadership, security forces and civilians to maintain calm and exercise restraint. 

Reports in Congolese media earlier this week indicate officials for the UN’s Mission in the Congo and various diplomats have met with both Kabila and Tshisekedi.

On Tuesday, International Criminal Court Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said his office was following the post-election situation in the Congo closely and warned the country’s political leaders against inciting attacks. He said he had already received some reports of  politically motivated attacks and said the court wouldn’t hesitate to prosecute any Congolese politician responsible for post electoral violence, regardless of their political affiliation or position in government. 

Kabila assumed the Presidency of the Congolese provisional government in 2001 after his father President Laurent Desire Kabila, an eastern rebel leader who overthrew the Mobutu regime in 1997 with the help of Uganda and Rwanda, was assassinated in a failed coup attempt. Joseph Kabila won the country’s first ever election in 2006.

Tshisekedi is a long time political opposition figure in the Congo. He refused to run in the 2006 election because he said it failed to meet democratic standards and was rigged in favor of Kabila.