Congo to release provisional results of disputed presidential vote

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s election commission is set to release the full provisional results from the Dec. 20 presidential election on Sunday. The opposition has called for a re-run of the election, citing widespread irregularities and alleged fraud.

Logistical issues, an election day over-run, and a lack of transparency in the vote-counting process have fueled a dispute that could further destabilize the country, which is roughly the size of Western Europe and is the world’s leading producer of cobalt and other important industrial commodities.

The national election commission, known as the CENI, has released a tally of votes showing President Felix Tshisekedi leading with over 72% of approximately 17.8 million votes counted so far. The total number of votes has not yet been specified.

The full provisional results from the presidential vote are scheduled to be announced by the CENI at 1300 GMT.

Since election day, some of Tshisekedi’s main challengers, such as former oil executive Martin Fayulu, have been calling for a re-run of the presidential and legislative elections, accusing the CENI of bias in favor of the president.

The CENI and the government have dismissed these allegations, as well as warnings from independent observer groups that the election day extension and other incidents may have compromised the credibility and legality of the poll.

The joint vote-monitoring mission of Congo’s Catholic and Protestant Churches urged the CENI to only publish results based on correctly consolidated tallies from local polling centers on Thursday.

The law requires the CENI to publish the results polling station by polling station in an effort to improve transparency and allow for easy result verification to avoid previous election disputes.

Opposition frontrunner Moise Katumbi has already stated that he will not challenge the CENI’s results in court, citing the alleged lack of independence of state institutions. He has also vowed to hold further protests against the election, following a banned march that was forcibly broken up by the police on Wednesday.

(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Hugh Lawson)