KINSHASA, Jan 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – DR Congo’s top court on Sunday declared
opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner of disputed presidential
elections after throwing out a legal challenge by the runner-up.
Announcing the final results of the long awaited poll, the Consitutional
Court said Tshisekedi had won by a simple majority, paving the way for him to
take over from longterm leader Joseph Kabila in an official ceremony on
Tuesday.
Runner-up Martin Fayulu immediately called on the international community
to reject the results, after the court said his appeal was “unfounded”. “I
ask the entire international community not to recognise a power that has
neither legitimacy nor legal standing to represent the Congolese people,” he
said of Tshisekedi, declaring himself “the only legitimate president”.
Tshisekedi’s victory was first announced earlier this month based on
provisional results by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI)
but it was challenged both at home and abroad, with the African Union
appealing for the final results to be delayed.
On Sunday, the Consitutional Court said Fayulu had failed to prove any
inaccuracies.
“Only the CENI has produced authentic and sincere results,” judge Noel
Kilomba said.
Hundreds of supporters of Tshisekedi had gathered outside the court holding
placards saying “No to interference” and “Independent country” as riot police
stood nearby.
– ‘Not their business’ –
The election commission announced on January 10 that Tshisekedi had
provisionally won with 38.57 percent of the vote against Fayulu’s 34.8
percent.
Fayulu denounced the figures as an “electoral coup” forged by Tshisekedi
and Kabila, and filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court. At a summit on
Thursday, AU leaders said there were “serious doubts” about the vote’s
provisional results and called for the announcement of the final results to
be suspended.
But DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende had snubbed the demand,
saying: “I don’t think it is the business of the government or even of the
African Union to tell the court what it should do.”
The AU also announced that its commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, currently the AU chairman, were expected to
fly to DR Congo on Monday.
The European Union said it joined the AU in inviting “all the Congolese
players to work constructively with this (AU) delegation to find a post-
electoral solution which respects the Congolese people’s vote”.
– Appeal –
The Financial Times and other foreign media have reported seeing documents
that confirm Fayulu as the winner.
“If the court declares Tshisekedi victor, the risk of isolation would be
enormous and untenable for a country positioned right in the middle of the
continent,” Adeline Van Houtte of the Economist Intelligence Unit wrote on
Twitter.
Fayulu’s camp had hailed the AU appeal for the final result to be put on
hold, but Tshisekedi’s entourage branded it “scandalous”.
The dispute has raised fears that the political crisis that began when
Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional term in office
two years ago, could turn into a bloodbath.
The vast and chronically unstable country lived through two regional wars
in 1996-97 and 1998-2003, and the previous two elections, in 2006 and 2011,
were marred by bloody clashes.
The AU has taken the firmest line of all major international bodies with
regard to the post-election crisis.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a bloc that includes
Angola and South Africa, initially called for a recount and a unity
government.
But in a later communique, it made no mention of those demands, instead
calling on Congolese politicians to “address any electoral grievances in line
with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitution and relevant electoral
laws”.