Dakar: Preliminary results from the Democratic Republic of Congo's December 30 presidential election will be delayed past the expected deadline, the head of the election commission says.
Corneille Nangaa has told Reuters the commission, known as CENI, has received only 47 per cent of vote tally sheets as of Saturday, and did not know when the results would be ready.
Early results had been expected to be announced on Sunday.
Congolese President Joseph Kabila arrives to cast his vote on December 30 in Kinshasa, Congo. .Credit:AP
Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said military personnel had been deployed to central Africa to protect US assets from possible violent demonstrations.
The delay is the latest setback in a disorganised poll to pick a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the country of 80 million people since his father was assassinated in 2001.
The December 30 vote could mark Congo's first democratic transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.
But tensions rose after observers reported a litany of irregularities that the opposition says are part of the ruling party's effort to steal the election.
Congolese election commission officials seal the results of elections in the St. Raphael school in the Limete district of Kinshasa, on December 3.Credit:AP
The opposition, represented by its two main candidates Martin Fayulu and Felix Tshisekedi, and the ruling coalition all say their candidates have won.
"It will not be possible to announce the results tomorrow," Nangaa said.
A CENI spokesman later said the commission was holding a meeting on Sunday to decide when they will be announced.
Worried that disputes and delays could spark the kind of violence seen after the 2006 and 2011 elections, the United Nations Security Council met on Friday to discuss how to react.
The council was unable to reach an agreement, according to an internal report seen by Reuters.
The US condemned a lack of transparency in the contest, while China, a major investor, lauded the process.
Congo's Catholic church body CENCO has said it identified the victor based on its own tallies collected by 40,000 observers, though it did not name the winner.
The electoral commission responded by saying the announcement could incite an uprising.
Congo's ruling coalition accused the church of behaving in an "irresponsible and anarchic" way.
Reuters
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