Catholic Church snubs DR Congo election result

The provisional result of the December’s presidential election, naming opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi as winner of DR Congo presidential election has been rejected by the Catholic Church.

The Church said that the result does not reflect the data its observers collected from polling stations.

“We see that the result of the presidential election as published by CENI (the electoral commission) does not correspond with the data collected by our observer mission from polling stations and counting centres,” said Father Donatien Nshole, spokesman for CENCO, which represents the country’s Catholic bishops.

Last week CENCO, which deployed more than 40,000 observers to monitor the elections, said it knew who had won the vote but did not reveal who it was, instead urging CENI to publish the results “in keeping with truth and justice”.

France’s top diplomat and analysts said Thursday that the Church’s count indicated Tshisekedi’s opposition rival Martin Fayulu, who came a close second, had actually won.

Nshole’s remarks were made a press conference during which he also remarked on the historic change brought about by the election.

“We take note of the publication of the provisional results of the presidential election which, for the first time in the history of our country, opens the way for a political changeover at the head of state,” he said.

The Catholic Church has long been pressing for the departure of President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2001, and who has stayed in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended in December 2016.