Congo opposition leaders call for protest on inauguration day
Two of the main opposition candidates in Democratic Republic of Congo’s December presidential election have called for a protest this Saturday, when President Felix Tshisekedi is due to be sworn in for a second term, Reuters reports.
Tshisekedi and his party won the Dec. 20-24 general election by a landslide, but the vote was marred by widespread allegations of fraud, logistical shortcomings and disruptions.
The two opposition leaders, Martin Fayulu and Moise Katumbi, as well as others have called for a re-run – a demand authorities have dismissed.
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“We are having a protest on Jan. 20 because we will not accept the results, there was fraud everywhere and the elections must be annulled,” said Katumbi in an online press briefing.
The protests would be held in the capital Kinshasa and the second-largest city Lubumbashi, Katumbi said.
Separately, Congo’s powerful Catholic bishops’ conference on Thursday issued a statement saying the election was “a catastrophe” and that “our country is in danger”.
“We discovered a considerable number of parallel votes with voting machines found in private homes,” said the statement from the bishop’s conference, CENCO, which ran the largest election observation mission throughout the country.
