Messy surprise

10 January 2019 By Ed Cropley Follow @edwardcropley

Elections in the central African giant have produced a double surprise. Outgoing leader Joseph Kabila’s man lost. But so did a rival who led opinion polls and was favoured by mineral-rich regions. Unrest is likely, especially in Katanga, home to 60 percent of the world’s cobalt.

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Regions

Gabon coup bid bears timely warning for Congo

Context News

Democratic Republic of Congo’s election commission on Jan. 10 declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the surprise winner of December’s presidential election. Tshisekedi won with 38.57 percent of more than 18 million ballots cast, Corneille Nangaa, the president of the election commission (CENI), said.

The runner-up, Martin Fayulu, said the outcome was an “electoral coup” and demanded the election commission publish the full results of the Dec. 30 vote. Two diplomats told Reuters that an unofficial tally of results by Congo’s Catholic church (CENCO) showed Fayulu was the winner.

Fayulu, a U.S.-educated former Exxon Mobil executive, had led Tshisekedi in pre-election opinion polls.

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