Congo opposition wants vote annulled, alleging fraud

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Four opposition challengers to Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila called on Tuesday for election results to be rejected, accusing authorities of systematic fraud.

Candidate Vital Kamerhe, a former government minister, said ballots had been marked ahead of the poll in favor of Kabila, and some voters prevented from entering polling stations during Monday's chaotic presidential and parliamentary elections.

Three other candidates also urged the Congolese not to accept any results from the vote, saying technical problems and fraud meant they would not be credible. However Kabila's top rival, Etienne Tshisekedi, did not join their call and his party said it was confident he would win.

"There can be no doubt as to the scale of the fraud, deliberately planned by those in power with the connivance of the national election commission," Kamerhe wrote in a letter to Kabila, the election commission and international bodies.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/29/us-congo-democratic-election-idUSTRE7AS25D20111129