President Joseph Kabila cruised to victory in elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials said on Friday, raising fears of a violent opposition backlash. Kabila gained 49% of the vote against 32% for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, the country's election commission announced. Tshisekedi immediately protested.
"It is a totally unacceptable result," his campaign president, Alexis Mutanda, told Reuters. "You can just look around Kinshasa or the rest of the country to see how many people are against these results. The population is totally disoriented."
He said Tshisekedi's UDPS party had not decided on its next move, but had "no faith" in the credibility of the supreme court charged with ratifying the results.
There were reports of unrest in the capital, Kinshasa, with police shooting into the air and firing teargas to break up demonstrations, according to witnesses. A huge security operation put opposition strongholds in the city under lockdown. Kabila, 40, came to power in 2001 when his father, Laurent, who had ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, was shot dead by a bodyguard. Friday's result means the canny political strategist will extend his reign to at least 15 years.
"The electoral commission notes that the candidate Joseph Kabila has achieved a majority with, 8,880,944 votes, or 48.97 percent of votes cast," said commission head Daniel Ngoy Mulunda. A total of 18.14 million ballots were cast.
In a tightly controlled pro-Kabila downtown district in Kinshasa near the election commission, people hung out of balconies cheering after the results were released. A woman danced in the street. Police in riot gear in trucks stood at attention.
In the Limite neighbourhood, where Tshisekedi lives, the mood was dark. "This is a total disaster," Fabien Bukasa, a Tshisekedi supporter told the Associated Press. "We are thinking about what to do. We do not know what will happen."
The announcement had been delayed since Tuesday, with election officials blaming logistical problems. The long wait did little to ease tensions in Kinshasa, where Tshisekedi commands support. Shops closed, streets emptied, and security forces in riot gear deployed as people braced for the fallout.
Tshisekedi's supporters have vowed to take to the streets if Kabila was declared the winner, alleging widespread fraud. Before the final results were known, Jacquemain Shabani, the secretary general of Tshisekedi's party, said: "We call on the Congolese people to mobilize themselves so as to protect this victory.
"Each person can do this in their own way, and in the manner that they see fit so that it will be felt everywhere, especially by this dictatorship which wants to impose a verdict based on cheating and on electoral fraud."
Meanwhile, at the capital's best hotel, Kabila's party had rented a ballroom and his supporters wearing T-shirts printed with his photograph were already holding a victory celebration before the official announcement.
The 28 November election was the country's first locally organised poll since a war that left more than 4 million people dead. International observers have said the process has been marred by irregularities and disorganisation, but have stopped short of calling for the vote to be annulled.
At least 18 people have been killed in election-related violence so far, according to Human Rights Watch, and Kabila's camp has said the government would have to call in the army if protests become "too chaotic".
But in the war ravaged eastern city of Goma, people started to celebrate as soon as the results were announced on national TV and radio.