On Saturday, when President Felix Tshisekedi is scheduled to take the oath of office for a second term, two of the leading opposition contenders in the December presidential election of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Martin Fayulu and Moise Katumbi, have called for a demonstration.
The election held on December 20–24 was overwhelmingly won by Tshisekedi, although there were several accusations of fraud, logistical errors, and interruptions that clouded the results.
In an online press briefing, Katumbi stated, “We are having a protest on January 20 because we will not accept the results, there was fraud everywhere, and the elections must be annulled.”
The result might further destabilize Congo, which is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, an essential component of electric car batteries, and the third-largest producer of copper.
In a related development, the influential Catholic bishops’ conference of Congo released a statement on Thursday describing the election as “a catastrophe” and warning that “our country is in danger.”
The bishop’s conference, CENCO, which oversaw the biggest election observation mission in the nation, released a statement saying, “We discovered a considerable number of parallel votes with voting machines found in private homes.”
The national electoral body of Congo, the CENI, came under heavy fire in the statement and was advised to consider its involvement in the circumstances.
In response to the preliminary results of the parliamentary election, which showed Tshisekedi’s UDPS party winning 69 seats in parliament and surpassing more than 40 other parties, police broke up a small protest in Kinshasa on Tuesday.
