Catholic Church Questions Surprise Congo Vote Results
Catholic Church Questions Surprise Congo Vote Results
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s powerful Catholic Church denounced official presidential election results on Thursday, stepping into a dispute that threatens the possibility of the country’s first democratic transfer of power since independence.
The church said data collected by its 40,000-strong observer mission showed a different winner from the one announced by Congo’s electoral commission just hours earlier.
The commission, widely seen as being controlled by incumbent President Joseph Kabila, stunned the Central African nation by naming opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi as the winner of the Dec. 30 vote, the first victory by an opposition candidate in the country’s history.
The result has sparked allegations of a backroom deal between Mr. Tshisekedi, who had been trailing another opposition leader in opinion polls, and Mr. Kabila, who has been reluctant to give up power after 18 years.
The church, which runs schools and hospitals and owns large swaths of land, is a major political power broker in the former Belgian colony, where some 40% of the population identifies as Catholic. In 2016 it oversaw a failed transition deal and later supported a popular campaign to pressure Mr. Kabila step down.
The disputed results put the church in a delicate position, having to balance its demand for a democratic transfer of power with the threat of further violence in a country racked by conflict for 25 years. Congo, a vast nation the size of Western Europe, has never seen a peaceful transfer of power and dozens of civilians have already died in protests over Mr. Kabila’s two-year delay of national elections.
Diplomats say that Catholic bishops privately told them their observers’ vote count showed another opposition leader, former Exxon Mobil country manager Martin Fayulu, had come in first. In a news conference, the church challenged the results released by the commission, but stopped short off naming Mr. Fayulu or publishing its own vote tabulation.
There were reports Thursday of isolated clashes between supporters of Mr. Tshisekedi and Mr. Fayulu in smaller cities across Congo. Local media said two protesters and two police officers died in the Western town of Kikwit.
In the capital, Kinshasa, an opposition stronghold, the atmosphere was mostly jubilant, as streets teemed with people playing music and listening to results.
An escalation in violence could ripple beyond the country of 80 million people. Congo produces some two-thirds of the world’s cobalt, used in the lithium-ion batteries powering electric cars and mobile phones, and several other minerals key to manufacturing modern technologies.
International mining companies, including Glencore PLC, have set up emergency protocols for evacuating staff and halting operations should unrest spread to the traditionally stable southeast.
Initial reactions from the European Union and several Western countries leaned on the bishops’ assessment and urged Congolese authorities to respect the will of the people, while regional powers, including South Africa, called for moderation. Church representatives will brief the United Nations Security Council on Friday, along with observers from the Southern African Development Community, a European diplomat said.
The State Department declined to comment on the outcome of the vote, issuing a statement that noted the results were provisional.
“We await clarification of questions which have been raised regarding the electoral count,” the statement said, urging stakeholders to remain calm and avoid using violence.
Barnabe Kikaya, one of Mr. Kabila’s closest advisers, said there was no power-sharing deal between the president and Mr. Tshisekedi. Mr. Kabila would step down as promised and Mr. Tshisekedi could be sworn in as soon as Jan. 18, he said.
Since taking power in 2001 following the assassination of his father, Laurent, Mr. Kabila has failed to spread the benefits of Congo’s vast mineral wealth to its citizens, the majority of whom live in extreme poverty.
“We are happy. Finally it is recognized that the people can take the power in this country,” said a young man who was dancing and chanting with his friends near the national parliament.
Mr. Fayulu pledged “ultimate combat” against what he said was large-scale electoral fraud aimed at keeping him out of power. “Let’s stand up all together, united as one, to protect our victory, to protect the victory of the Congolese people,” he told his supporters. “Hand in hand we will take this fight to the end…The people will win.”
Virtually unknown outside Kinshasa until a couple of months ago, Mr. Fayulu ran a campaign fueled by funding from two wealthy and exiled backers, both of whom had been blocked from running. Soccer magnate Moise Katumbi would have faced arrest for what he says are trumped-up charges linked to a real-estate dispute, while former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba was disqualified due to a conviction of witness tampering by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
In its preliminary results, the electoral commission said Mr. Tshisekedi had received 38.6% of the vote, ahead of 34.8% for Mr. Fayulu and 23.8% for Mr. Kabila’s preferred candidate, Emmanuel Shadary.
Mr. Tshisekedi is the scion of one of Congo’s most prominent political families. His father Étienne, who died in 2017, led the opposition against longtime strongman Mobutu Sese Seko and later against both Laurent and Joseph Kabila. But since inheriting the party leadership, the 55-year-old has failed to rival the popularity of his father.
In recent days, his party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, said it was in contact with representatives of Mr. Kabila’s ruling coalition to work toward national reconciliation. That has prompted claims of a power-sharing deal between the two camps from analysts and Mr. Fayulu.
Addressing supporters in front of his party’s headquarters in Kinshasa Thursday, Mr. Tshisekedi thanked Mr. Kabila and the electoral commission. “From today we should no longer see him as an adversary but instead as a partner in the democratic change in our country,” he said.
—Christine Tshibuyi, Jessica Donati and Laurence Norman contributed to this article.
Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com
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