The major players in the international community have accepted the outcome of January’s elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the name of stability.
Results compiled by the independent national election commission (CENI), leaked to the press, confirm those of the Catholic church, which fielded 40,000 observers across the country show that Martin Fayulu, the opposition coalition candidate, won the presidential election, not by a whisker, but by a landslide. However, after a week’s delay and intense negotiations, the CENI announced the victory of Felix Tshisekedi.
While Joseph Kabila has officially stepped down from office, he and his associates will most likely continue controlling the levers of power. His political coalition, having won an overwhelming and improbable majority of seats in the parliamentary elections, will ultimately determine the choice of prime minister, who will in turn manage the government’s key ministries and security agencies.
Results compiled by the independent national election commission (CENI), leaked to the press, confirm those of the Catholic church, which fielded 40,000 observers across the country show that Martin Fayulu, the opposition coalition candidate, won the presidential election, not by a whisker, but by a landslide. However, after a week’s delay and intense negotiations, the CENI announced the victory of Felix Tshisekedi.
While Joseph Kabila has officially stepped down from office, he and his associates will most likely continue controlling the levers of power. His political coalition, having won an overwhelming and improbable majority of seats in the parliamentary elections, will ultimately determine the choice of prime minister, who will in turn manage the government’s key ministries and security agencies.
Tshisekedi’s election may have staved off major unrest in Kinshasa in the short-term, the new government will lack genuine legitimacy and risks repeated challenges to its authority. Without that legitimacy, the government will find it hard to undertake the many serious reforms that DRC so urgently requires. Time and again we have seen leaders installed in office by legal manoeuvres that fail to confer the legitimacy.
Having seen that elections lack the power to change things, the Congolese people may turn to other methods to overturn the unbearable status quo, in which the vast majority of the population wallows in poverty while those at the summit of the state amass fortunes. Already there are calls to arms emerging from the east, which has a history of insurgency. There are dozens of armed groups active that could be harnessed to this cause.
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