He was speaking after a plenary meeting of the commission he says is still waiting for some tally sheets from far-flung polling stations.

Corneille Nangaa, the head of the electoral commission known as CENI has a diplomatic gun to his head.

He has to have produced elections results by the time the United Nations Security Council meets on Friday to deliberate on the DRC.

Martin Fayulu, the opposition coalition candidate widely believed to have won the election is now concerned the ruling party will try to strike a power sharing deal, giving their candidate Emmanuel Shadary some say in government.

Fayulu insists the will of the Congolese people has to be respected.

The post DRC election results could be announced within 48 hours, says CENI chief appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Opposition activists are saying that even with the eyes of the world on them, the government of Joseph Kabila is trying to manipulate the result.

Diplomatic sources in the DRC say opposition candidate Martin Fayulu has beaten the government contenders Emmanuel Shadary by at least 30 points.

They base this on 40 000 observers from the Catholic Church and others from local NGOs.

Electoral Commission head Corneille Nangaa says only 47% of tally sheets have come into headquarters in Kinshasa  from the vast central African country…

….so he can’t say when the results will be announced.

President Donald Trump’s deployed troops to Gabon, one of the Congo’s nine neighbours, to protect US citizens if violence breaks out.

The post Fears of violence as DRC election results are delayed appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

This after the SADC election observation team issued its report saying the poll had been relatively well managed.

Head of the DRC electoral commission known as CENI Corneille Nangaa’s told aspirants for the country’s presidency that provisional results of the election, scheduled to be released on Sunday, will be delayed.

That’s because less than a fifth of the tally sheets from around the country have reached the commission offices in Kinshasa.

He did not provide a new date for publication.

Authorities have blocked the internet in the Congo until the provisional results are made known.

The European Union, United States, Canada and Switzerland have told them to turn it on again.

The post DRC electoral commission says provisional results will be delayed appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

This follows an admission to the candidates by the electoral commission that they would be unable to organize the elections as scheduled on Sunday.

It’s for the government of President Joseph Kabila to announce any delay in elections that are already more than two years overdue.

Electoral Commission (CENI) head Corneille Nangaa told candidates this afternoon that it could not make good on its assurance to bounce back from the warehouse fire in the capital Kinshasa last week that destroyed two thirds of the voting material.

CENI spokesman Pierre Kalamba says a delay is most likely, although that is not the commission’s decision.

The post DRC electoral commission says it cannot organise Sunday’s poll on time appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The country’s electoral commission says a fire in its warehouse last week has made it impossible to hold the poll on Sunday as scheduled.

The country’s 46 million voters will now cast their ballots on December 30.

The delay in the elections, already more than two years late, has displeased many of the 21 presidential candidates.

They’re saying it is  driven more by politics than logistics.

Electoral commission head Corneille Nangaa says voting machines to replace the 8 000 destroyed in the fire will arrive at the weekend. It will take at least three days to align them with the exiting machines.

Since voting on Christmas Day is out of the question, it was decided to postpone the exercise until December 30.

The post DRC Presidential election delayed for a week appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Authorities fear a new wave of deadly protests like those that followed Kabila staying in power after his constitutional mandate expired last November.

ends intro

Congolese were told last last year their country could not afford elections.

They expected, nevertheless that they would be going to the polls within a year of President Joseph Kabila’s mandate running out.

Now the country’s electoral commission is saying logistical challenges will probably prevent this from happening.

These indication from commission president Corneille Nangaa have incensed opposition  activists who say they are simply not prepared to wait any longer.

The post Election delay will be a declaration of war, say DRC activists appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.