The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional organisation for southern African states, has called for a recount of votes in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This comes after the DRC’s electoral body announced the provisional results of the December election, declaring Felix Tshisekedi the winner.
In a statement released on Sunday, SADC announced that a recount of the election will provide “necessary reassurance” not only to the candidates, but also to members of the Congolese community and observers from around the world.
While urging for the formulation of a government built on national unity to avoid a crisis that may arise from the result, SADC further explained that the suggested recount has proven itself a tried and trusted means of ensuring peace post-election.
“SADC draws the attention of Congolese politicians to similar arrangements that were very successful in South Africa and Zimbabwe [which resulted in the] necessary stability for durable peace,” the statement read.
This statement comes at a time when the DRC election is under fire for not just its coordination but the results, which have been deemed suspicious.
December’s historically relevant election was to serve as the first successful democratic election in the French-speaking country since its independence from Belgium. It was also set to serve as a symbolic end to the long rule of the Kabila family in the country, which began with the late Laurent Kabila who was assassinated and now his controversial son, Joseph.
Observers were surprised at the announcement of Felix Tshisekedi as the winner of the elections after he beat the popular Martin Fayulu by a narrow margin of 4 percent.
Meanwhile, Fayulu who came in second after the 30th December polls, has appealed to the country’s Constitutional Court to cancel the provisional result from CENI (the country’s electoral body) where Tshisekedi was announced as the winner.
Accusing Felix Tshisekedi of colluding with outgoing President Joseph Kabila (who openly supported another candidate, Emmanuel Shadary) Fayulu has called tagged the result an “election coup.” He added that this arrangement involved a deal between Tshisekedi’s Coalition for Change and Kabila’s Common Front for Congo, and it occurred when the Front realised Shadary would not win and decided to throw their weight behind Tshisekedi.
Speaking to reporters, Feli Ekombe, an attorney for Fayulu, said: “The request seeks the annulment of the result declaring Felix Tshisekedi president.”
Likewise, while addressing supporters, Fayulu explained that results should not be manufactured “behind closed doors,” noting: “I am hoping that the constitutional court will call the electoral commission to recount the ballot papers. That they are false, fabricated and nothing to do with the truth. The truth has to come from the recount of the ballot paper.”
Sharing the same suspicions as Fayulu and the SADC, Congo’s Catholic Church also revealed that the results revealed on Thursday contradicted with what its 40,000 strong monitoring team discovered during the elections.
It is also imperative to note that France and Belgium have also challenged the outcome of the results, with the foreign minister of France hinting that Martin Fayulu was the real winner of the election.
With just a few days left until the Constitutional Court decides to accept or reject the result from CENI, the DRC remains on edge as the wait on proof showing whether or not their votes were, indeed, tampered with.
