President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) is set to face Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba in an October
presidential runoff after no single candidate gathered more than 50
percent valid votes in the first round of presidential elections,
election officials announced Sunday.
Incumbent President Kabila won 44.81 percent of the votes, while
Bemba, a vice-president and former rebel leader, got 20.03 percent,
head of the independent electoral commission Apollinaire Malu Malu
announced on national TV.
Candidates needed to garner more than 50 percent of votes to win
outright and the two front-runners needed to take a second and
final round on Oct. 29.
"Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba, the two candidates who
received the most amount of votes, are allowed to stand in the
second round of the presidential election," Malu Malu said.
Some 17 million voters cast ballots in the July 30 polls. Apart
from Kaliba and Bemba, 31 other candidates joined the race but none
made it through to the runoff. The electoral commission said
turnout stood at around 70.54 percent.
The presidential race was the first democratic one in over four
decades in the African nation with a population sized at over 58
million.
After the announcement of the results, sporadic clashes erupted
in the country where the United Nations station 17,500
peacekeepers.
In the capital Kinshasa, gunfire could be heard outside the
electoral commission buildings. Reports said Kabila's special
guards and government troops loyal to Bemba exchanged fire and at
least one soldier was killed.
(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2006)
