The PPRD lost nearly half the number of seats it held in the 500-seat National Assembly, winning only 63 seats. The PPRD had more candidates than any other party in the elections.

Etienne Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) won 41 seats. Mr. Tshisekedi, who is contesting the results of the parliamentary and presidential elections, has called on members of his party to boycott the parliament. The UDPS had no members in parliament after boycotting the 2006 elections.

The relatively unknown People’s Party for Peace and Democracy (PPPD), which is allied to the PPRD, has emerged from the elections as the third biggest party in the National Assembly after winning 27 seats.

The Lumumbist Party (PALU), led by former Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga and current Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, also lost seats after winning only 19.

Jean-Pierre Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), which was the main opposition party in parliament, won 22 seats. Vital Kamerhe’s Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) won 17 seats.

Although Mr. Kabila will have a comfortable majority in the National Assembly thanks to the Presidential Majority (MP), a parliamentary grouping of parties supporting his agenda, the results are a setback for the ruling PPRD, which was aiming to increase its seats in parliament to lessen its dependence on its allies.

The new balance of power will affect how Mr. Kabila forms any new government. As the biggest party allied to the PPRD until now, the PALU has been given the prime minister’s post since the 2006 elections.

Mr. Kabila is said to consider including members of the opposition in a new government. Altogether, opposition candidates were credited with winning more votes than Mr. Kabila in the presidential election. They have rejected the results published by the electoral commission, alleging widespread fraud.

The electoral commission said it asked the Supreme Court to nullify results for 17 seats in 7 districts affected by violence on voting day.

More than 19,000 candidates run for parliament. The Supreme Court has received more than 5,000 appeals since the electoral commission started publishing partial results. The Electoral Law gives the court two months to decide on the appeals.
View the results on the electoral commission’s website

President Kabila will rally supporters at Stade des Martyrs, while Etienne Tshisekedi has announced a rally in the capital upon his arrival at Njili airport. Vital Kamerhe will also hold a final rally at Stade Tata Raphael.

The rallies will mark the end of a month in a campaign that saw the candidates court voters in eastern Congo before moving westward during the last week of the campaign.

President Kabila, in power since 2001, will try to convince voters in the capital, an opposition stronghold, that he remains the best bet to lead the country for the next five years. A mainstay of his campaign has been asking voters for more time to continue the major infrastructure projects he started during the current term.

Mr. Tshisekedi, playing on a much friendlier turf in Kinshasa, will continue to remind supporters of Mr. Kabila’s failure to fight against rampant corruption, human rights violations, tackle poverty, and bring a lasting peace and security to the country.

Both Mr. Tshisekedi and Mr. Kabila have received warm welcomes in provinces considered favorable to their opponent, both in eastern and western Congo.

Mr. Tshisekedi managed to draw huge crowds in eastern provinces such as North and South Kivu, Katanga and Orientale Province, that overwhelmingly voted for Mr. Kabila during the 2006 presidential elections.

Mr. Kabila received a warm welcome from supporters in the Kasai Provinces, considered strongholds of Mr. Tshisekedi, and Bas-Congo and Equateur Provinces, considered opposition strongholds.

Monday’s presidential election may hinge upon how much the two candidates were able to make inroads in each other’s strongholds during the campaign.

Another important factor will be how much the main opposition candidates – Etienne Tshisekedi, Vital Kamerhe and Kengo wa Dondo – split the votes of the opposition.

Despite the failure of the main opposition parties to unite against President Kabila, Mr. Tshisekedi said during the campaign that the Congolese people will know who to vote for, even if they are faced with several candidates.

President Kabila, running unopposed from the ruling majority, is counting on his allies from the PALU party, including Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito and patriarch Antoine Gizenga, to convince enough voters in Bandudu and Bas-Congo provinces that their interests will be better served by giving the ruling majority another term in office.

President Kabila will be crossing his fingers and hoping that Mr. Kamerhe, a former ally who led his campaign in 2006, does not chip away enough votes from him in the South and North Kivu Provinces.

The Indian ambassador to the DRC, Devendra Srivastava, hailed the excellent state of relations between Congo and India, as demonstrated with the funding for the Kakobola dam and two other projects worth $33.5 million to build water supplies to rural areas.

Srivastava said that India wants to work with the DRC and intends to increase its presence in the country by funding other projects.

The Minister of Energy, Gilbert Tshiongo, said that obtaining financing for these projects responds to the desire of President Joseph Kabila to improve the DRC’s water and electric supplies.

Tshiongo noted that providing electric power to Gungu and Idiofa will enable the city of Kikwit to play its full role as the economic capital of the province.

Form ACP article

The head of the government was responding to an inquiry by Senator Patrice Aimé Sessanga, who had questioned the constitutionality of the decrees.

Concerning the creation of new provinces, Adolphe Muzito said the government has faced a lot of constraints, which have delayed the creation of new provinces by May 15 of this year, as required by the Constitution.

“The government is suspected of having deliberately delayed the creation of new provinces. This goal has not yet been reached because the government has had to deal with a lot of obstacles”, he said.

But Senator Sessanga believes the creation of new provinces does not require billions of dollars, as suggested by the Prime Minister. He says it is rather a question of lack of political will.

“When it comes to the creation of new provinces, the reality is that you are not actually creating new provinces. You are putting in place new provincial political institutions, which means, putting in place a provincial Assembly that chooses its leaders and elects a governor, who then chooses his team”, Senator Sessanga said.

From Radio Okapi Article

While acknowledging that pockets of insecurity still remain, Adolphe Muzito said that the country’s security situation was generally good. He also said that improving relations with neighboring countries has played a key role in returning peace to the country.

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister agreed that state workers still face a precarious situation and insisted on uniform pay zones throughout the country.

“Our country no longer faces a war threatening its sovereignty. Nevertheless, it remains in a post-conflict and fragile state. There are still a few pockets of insecurity that the Honorable Members of Parliament rightly, and often with good reason, point to the government’s attention.”

In his response to the Prime Minister, opposition MP Jean Lucien Bussa said that the government has failed on all fronts. He added that government members were enriching themselves, starting with the Prime Minister. He promised to introduce a motion of no confidence against the government.
 

Excerpts from Radio Okapi article

By retaining both Adolphe Muzito and Nzanga Mobutu, Joseph Kabila keeps intact a political alliance struck before the second round of the 2006 presidential elections between the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), the Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU) and the Union of Mobutist Democrats (UDEMO).

The government has been trimmed down from 54 members to 43. Alexis Thambwe Mwamba stays on a Foreign Minister, Raymond Tshibanda as Minister of International and Regional Cooperation, Charles Mwando Simba as Minister of National Defense and Veterans Affairs, and Lambert Mende as Minister of Communication and Government spokesman.

Former Finance Minister Atanase Matenda was replaced by Matata Ponyo Mapon. Olivier Kamitatu retains the Ministry of Planing while Celestin Mbuyu becomes new Oil Minister. The new government was announced on state television on Friday night.

President Kabila also reshuffled his cabinet. Former Infrastructure Minister Pierre Lumbi was appointed Special Adviser on National Security and Gustave Beya as new Chief of Staff.

Of particular interest to the governors are issues related to the implementation of the decentralization of authority and the return of 40% of revenues from the central government to the provinces, as required by the Constitution.

Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito and other members of the government are also taking part to the discussions.