Image
© The Associated Press/Jerome DelaySupporters of President Joseph Kabila take to the streets in celebration Friday in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Provisional results published by Congo's election commission on Friday handed victory to President Joseph Kabila who won another term with 49% of the 18.14 million votes cast.

Longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi trailed with 32% of the vote, according to the final tallies released by election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda.

Tshisekedi's supporters vowed to take to the streets if Kabila was declared the winner.

But Mulunda warned before reading the final results: "The candidates must understand that in every election there is a winner and there is one or several losers."

In the tightly controlled pro-Kabila downtown neighborhood 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.

Although international observers said the vote was flawed, they have stopped short of calling it fraudulent. Most say irregularities were not widespread enough to have caused a change in outcome. However, the perception among opposition supporters is that Tshisekedi won, setting the stage for a confrontation.

Some residents have left the country, fearing violence. Election violence has already left at least 18 dead and more than 100 wounded, with most of the deaths caused by troops loyal to Kabila, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

This was the country's second democratic election.

Congo's enormous geography has proved challenging both for the electoral commission organizing the vote as well as for the country's government. Its vast rain forests in the east still harbor vicious rebel armies, including remnants of the Interhamwe, the militia responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Results must now be approved by the Supreme Court.

Source: The Associated Press