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Congolese Opposition Leader Rejects Presidential Election Results
“Congo tense as Bemba vows to contest Kabila win”
By David Lewis
Reuters
Thursday, November 16, 2006; 11:49 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111600492.html
Opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has rejected the Congolese electoral commission’s ruling that gave the presidential election to incumbent President Joseph Kabila; however, the former rebel group leader has said that he would not take military action. The Democratic Republic of Congo had its first free elections in 40 years on October 29th and the electoral commission announced today that Kabila had won with 58.05% to Bemba’s 41.95% of the total votes.
Bemba says that the results “are far from reflecting the truth of the ballot box” and that he will “use all legal means to ensure the will of our people is respected.” Additionally, Bemba and his campaign deny charges that they have committed any fraud in vote tabulation and criticize the electoral commission for not responding adequately to Bemba’s challenges of fraud in the Kabila campaign.
Although Bemba said he would not take military action, some of his supporters gathered around his headquarters in Kinshasa and threw stones at passing cars. Both the local police and the United Nations’ and European peacekeeping forces have been dispatched to the city to ease tensions between supporters from the two camps, which have been prone to violent confrontations. United Nation’s Secretary-General Kofi Annan “urged the Congolese to ‘receive the results calmly, and responsibly (and) to refrain from any recourse to violence.’”
While today’s announced outcome came from the electoral commission, the final results still need to be confirmed by the country’s Supreme Court. In accordance with legal procedure, if Bemba wants to challenge the results he “has three days in which to take his complaint to the Supreme Court.”
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