Provisional parliamentary election results unveiled in DR Congo – UN mission

Electoral authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have announced the provisional results of the vast African country’s historic parliamentary elections in July, the United Nations mission to the country reported today.

The results from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) show that neither of the two main political coalitions, President Joseph Kabila’s AMP or Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba’s RENACO, won an absolute majority in the 500-seat National Assembly.

AMP picked up 224 seats and RENACO won about 100, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists in New York. The UN Organization Mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC, also reported that 42 of the new deputies will be women.

Now that the results have been announced, both the Congolese constitution and electoral law require the National Assembly to install itself within 15 days.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the DRC, William Lacy Swing, welcomed the National Assembly results, saying they will enable the country to have a stable government based on a strong parliamentary majority facing a strong opposition.

Mr. Kabila and Mr. Bemba are also facing off in the second round of presidential elections on 29 October, and their supporters have clashed violently on the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, since the results from the first round were announced last month.

MONUC reported it is continuing its series of confidence-building measures ahead of the second round of elections, including the dispatch of joint patrols to verify various allegations by the leading parties.

MONUC said its efforts to resolve differences between Mr. Kabila and Mr. Bemba will soon be boosted when several high-level international figures are expected to travel to Kinshasa for talks with the pair. The figures include representatives of the Republic of the Congo, the European Union, South Africa and Belgium.