The African Union (AU) has expressed „serious doubts“ about the preliminary outcome of the presidential election in Congo. After a special meeting in Addis Ababa, the Confederation of States requested the authorities in Kinshasa to suspend the official announcement of the final result. The heads of state of the AU also announced that they wanted to send a high-level delegation to Congo to seek a way out of the post-election crisis with the conflicting parties.
Shortly after the announcement of the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Congo on December 30, 2018, the opposition candidate Martin Fayulu had raised the accusation of electoral fraud. According to the electoral commission, Félix Tshisekedi received more than seven million of the 18 million votes cast, while second-in-command Martin Fayulu won more than six million votes. Fayulu denied the result and accused the outgoing President Joseph Kabila of an agreement with the relatively unknown Tshisekedi.
Analyzes so far secret data from the polling stations also pointed to a report of several media on a counterfeit. According to him, Fayulu won the election with about 60 percent of the vote, not Tshisekedi, who only got close to 20 percent of the vote, reported the Financial Times and the French foreign media RFI and TV5 Monde on Tuesday. The analysis confirmed critics who suggest that Kabila wants to indirectly hold power through an agreement with Tshisekedi. Kabila was not allowed to compete for another term at the head of the Central African state after nearly 18 years.
This Friday, the Constitutional Court in Congo is to decide on a complaint by Martin Fayulu, who has demanded a recount of the votes by hand.
The presidential election, according to the Congolese constitution, should have taken place two years ago. However, President Kabila had refused to resign in 2016 after the expiration of his second term, and postponed the elections several times. He had protests thwarted. The EU then imposed sanctions on the Congo in December 2016 and in May 2017
