The Court received two requests for the cancelling of the elections: one for irregularities in the process corresponding to the losing presidential candidate Théodore Ngoy, while the second was presented by a citizen who did not specify the reasons for his request.
Ngoy obtained just over four thousand votes in the elections (17th place, with 0.02 percent) and was the only opposition candidate to present the appeal to the judicial instance, despite the fact that others expressed their disagreement with the partial results.
On December 31st, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) declared that the winner was the current president of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, who reached 73.34 percent out of more than 18 million valid ballots. His closest competitor, the former governor of Katanga (southeast DRC) Moïse Katumbi, only obtained 18.08 percent.
The CENI established January 2nd and 3rd as the dates to appeal to the Constitutional Court in case of disagreement; the body will have until January 11th to process the files presented.
The electoral authority announced on Saturday the elimination of 82 candidates for the legislative elections, as well as the annulment of the national and provincial legislative elections in the electoral districts of Masimanimba, in the province of Kwilu, and Yakoma, in the province of Ubangi North.
Among those invalidated for fraud, incitement to violence, acts of vandalism against electoral material or for illegal possession of electronic voting devices are three active ministers and four provincial governors, in addition to other prominent figures in DRC politics.
The CENI specified that the cancellations respond to investigations carried out by a commission created to examine the disorders in the combined elections of December 20th.
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