AU urges Congo candidates to accept poll outcome

AU urges Congo candidates to accept poll outcome

The African Union urged candidates in Democratic Republic of Congo's elections on Wednesday to accept the outcome of this week's polls.

Monday's presidential and parliamentary elections, the second since the 2003 end of a civil war, were accompanied by outbreaks of violence in which at least eight people die, shortages of voting materials and confusion over voter lists.

Four presidential rivals to incumbent Joseph Kabila called for the vote to be annulled, alleging widespread fraud, a demand which the African observer missions rejected.

Reports

"We call on all political actors to show their responsibility by accepting the results," AU observer mission chief, Moctar Ouane, said in a joint statement with the Southern African SADC grouping and the ICGLR Great Lakes Region.

The South African prisons minister and head of the SADC mission, Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula, said the national election commission CENI had done a "sterling job."

"The Congolese have demonstrated their gains from 2006," she added, referring to the first post-war election organised largely under the auspices of the United Nations.

Preliminary results are due on December 6.

Kabila's move this year to sign off on constitutional changes making the vote a single-round election was widely seen as giving him the edge against a split field of 10 rivals.

It means that a simple majority is needed for victory.

However his chief challenger, Etienne Tshisekedi’s camp has said early indications from polling stations suggest he is in the lead, and Tshisekedi conspicuously failed to join the call of other candidates for an annulment.

The complaints of fraud have led to concerns that Congo could see a post-election dispute like Cote d’Ivoire, which this year descended into four months of conflict when incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat.

REUTERS/Waziri/Williams