UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday urged "a supreme sense of responsibility" in the next few days as the final results of the country's historic elections are to be announced.
Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary-general's special representative for the DRC, told the Security Council that the next week may be characterized by a period of contestation and a judicial review of provisional presidential results, and that the constitutional court is expected to announce the final results within a week.
She noted that the coming days are critical to the conclusion of the DRC's historic elections and pledged to engage with all Congolese stakeholders to emphasize that "a supreme sense of responsibility must prevail through the days ahead."
After a two-year delay and multiple postponements, the DRC elections finally occurred on Dec. 30, 2018, though voting in Beni, Butembo and Yumbi was put off until March 2019 due to concerns about Ebola and the security situation.
On Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission of the DRC announced the provisional results of the elections and declared opposition figure Felix Tshisekedi the winner of the presidential election with 38.57 percent of the vote.
The commission also announced the other opposition candidate Martin Fayulu obtained 34.83 percent of the vote, and that government candidate Emmanuel Shadary got 23.84 percent.
There have been various responses to the results, ranging from highly skeptical to cautious. Fayulu, who appeared to be polling ahead of the other candidates prior to the elections, called the results an "electoral coup."
Following the announcement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all stakeholders to refrain from violence and to channel any eventual electoral disputes through the established institutional mechanisms in line with the DRC's constitution and relevant electoral laws.
However, in the western town of Kikwit, two people were shot dead and several were wounded Thursday during a demonstration against the interim election results.
In her briefing to the Security Council on Friday, Zerrougui stressed that as millions of Congolese women and men have demonstrated their commitment to the political process in their country, and their determination to exercise their democratic right to vote, "we must therefore show our collective solidarity with them, as the electoral process is finalized, and as the DRC prepares to undertake the first peaceful transfer of power in the country's history."
