The leader of the main opposition party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo has been declared the provisional winner of the highly contentious presidential elections held on 30thh December 2018.

 

The son of a former opposition leader, Tshisekedi had over 7 million votes representing 38.57% of total votes cast  and was closely was followed by another opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, who garnered 6.3 million votes  representing 34.38%. In third place is the ruling government’s candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary who won about 4.3 million votes representing 23.84% of votes cast.

 

The results of the elections will come as surprise to many pollsters and analysts who predicted Martin Fayulu to have an easy win.

 

This election is the third since the end of a bloody civil war in 2002 and of outcome of this polls signifies the first electoral transfer of power in 59 years of independence in the DRC.

 

Speaking to thousands of cheering supporters in the capital Kinshasa, Tshisekedi said he would be the president “of all Congolese”.

 

Fayulu has however rejected the result, which he called an “electoral coup”.

 

The polls had been delayed by two years and the announcement of results was postponed by a further week to allow more time to overcome logistical challenges.