DRC: Constitutional Court confirms incumbent leader winner of December elections

The Constitutional Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) upheld Tuesday January 9 results of December Presidential elections, making incumbent President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, winner of the process and entitled to a second four-year term in office.

The court ruling credits Tshisekedi with 73.47 per cent of the votes accounting 13,058,962 ballots on the basis of results provided by the electoral commission which has nullified votes in Masi-Manimba (Kwilu Province) and in Yakoma (Nord-Ubangi province).

Only 40 per cent of voters, 18 million people headed to the December 20 presidential and legislatives.

The opposition branded the result a “farce”. Opposition leader Moise Katumbi finished behind Tshisekedi with 18 percent of the vote while Tshisekedi’s top contender in 2018 Martin Fayulu received 5 percent. Noble Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, a physician renowned for treating women brutalized by sexual violence in eastern DR Congo and candidate, got less than 1 percent.

Katumbi and Fayulu rejected the results but stopped short to lodge complaints with the court arguing that body is controlled by the state.

Two other candidates namely Théodore Ngoy and Ehetshe Mpala David went ahead to demand for the cancellation of results over irregularities but the court deemed their complaints void of sufficient evidences. Tshisekedi will be inaugurated on January 20 for another term.