Congo Opposition Party Says Tshisekedi Is `Presumed’ Vote Winner

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest opposition party said its leader was the “presumed” winner of last week’s election and encouraged talks with the nation’s outgoing president to prepare a transition.

Union for Democracy and Social Progress head Felix Tshisekedi is one of three candidates in with a chance of succeeding Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the world’s biggest cobalt producer since 2001. He’s competing against rival opposition leader Martin Fayulu and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Kabila’s handpicked protege.

Congo’s National Independent Electoral Commission, known as CENI, failed to announce the results of the Dec. 30 vote as scheduled on Sunday and hasn’t said when the results will be announced, intensifying speculation about the counting process and the outcome. UDPS Secretary-General Marc Kabund said there had been rumors that Tshisekedi and Kabila’s camps may be considering a post-election power-sharing arrangement.

“As for rumors stating a rapprochement between outgoing President Joseph Kabila and the presumed winning candidate of elections on Dec. 30, 2018, in this case, Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the UDPS wants to clarify that must be seen in the context of national reconciliation,” Kabund told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Kinshasa. “The two personalities have an interest in meeting to prepare a peaceful and civilized transfer of power.”

Results Delay
The body that represents Congo’s Catholic bishops said on Thursday the results collected on election day by its 40,000-strong observer mission showed there was a clear winner, without identifying the person. The New York Times cited a senior adviser to Kabila as saying the Catholic group believes Fayulu won.

Fayulu’s campaign is set to address the media later on Tuesday.

Andre Alain Atundu, spokesman for the Presidential Majority, the biggest group of parties in Shadary’s coalition, said he’s confident Shadary will win.

“The Presidential Majority is waiting for the announcement of results by CENI in the confidence and conviction that presidential candidate Shadary is well placed on the path to electoral victory,” he told reporters Tuesday in Kinshasa.