Violence before and after the elections has left several people dead especially in the capital Kinshasa [Reuters]
The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo has conceded there were “mistakes” in last month’s elections, but rejected the finding of the Carter Center international observer group that the results lacked credibility.
Joseph Kabila, who won re-election in the ballot held on November 28, said on Monday the “credibility of these elections cannot be put in doubt”.
“Were there mistakes? Definitely, but [the US-based Carter Center] has definitely gone far beyond what was expected,” Kabila told a news conference in the capital Kinshasa.
Results released by the election commission showed Kabila had won the vote with 49 per cent while Etienne Tshisekedi, the opposition leader and his main challenger, took 32 per cent.
The ballot, marred by deadly violence, was the second since the country’s 1998-2003 civil war ended. The first election was held in 2006.
But the outcome was immediately rejected as fraudulent by Tshisekedi, with the Carter Center citing “impossibly high” turnout in Kabila strongholds and uncounted ballots in opposition bastions.
It said on Saturday the organisation of the ballot cast doubt on the reliability of the results.
Kabila,
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