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The incumbent president, Félix Tshisekedi, scored around 80% of the diaspora vote
Initial results from a presidential poll in DR Congo began to trickle in. The elections were held spread over several days. One significant development was the Congolese diaspora living in countries like Belgium, France, Canada, South Africa, and the US were able to vote this time. The registered voters from those countries were 13,000, a minuscule percentage of the total number of 44 million people.
The incumbent president, Félix Tshisekedi, scored around 80% of the diaspora vote, says the electoral commission (Céni). Provisional results for the DRC’s 26 provinces will be released in the coming days. Analysts, however, maintain that the voting pattern is indicative of how the wind is blowing. Incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi is running for a second term.
DRC held four concurrent polls last Wednesday to elect the president, and lawmakers for national and provincial assemblies as well as local councillors. Massive delays and bureaucratic chaos marred the vote and some polling booths were unable to open at all.
The Ceni said that at least 97 percent of the roughly 75,000 polling stations in the DRC had been able to open. DR Congo is roughly the size of continental Western Europe. There are reported serious irregularities at some of the polling stations, as reported by the Carter Center, which observed the elections. In 24 polling stations, its observers identified technical problems with electronic voting devices, the US-based group added.
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Around 44 million Congolese in the nation of 100 million were registered to vote, and more than 100,000 candidates were running for various positions. Tshisekedi (60), is considered the front-runner in the first-past-the-vote presidential vote, especially given that he is facing a divided opposition.
