DRC President Félix Tshisekedi, 60, has been declared the winner of 20 December 2023 election, which has been harshly criticized by the country’s opposition, saying the process was a ‘sham and shame’, opposition candidates now demanding a rerun.
Tshisekedi who won by about 73% of the total votes, beat his closest challenger, Moise Katumbi, who was announced by DRC’s electoral officials to have garnered 18% of the total vote.
The DRC election apart from the condemnation by opposition candidates, was also marred by widespread logistical problems, forcing DRC electoral body to extend it to a second day in some parts of the vast country.
In addition, more than half of polling stations were opened late and at least 30% of voting machines failed to work on the first day of the vote.
International observers say millions of voters waited for hours before they could be able to vote, some gave up and went home.

The opposition claims the setbacks were part of a deliberate orchestrated plan to allow the results to be rigged in favor of Tshisekedi. They have now called for protests after Sunday’s announcement of Tshisekedi’s win.
“We call on our people to take to the streets en masse after the proclamation of the electoral fraud,” they said in a joint statement.
The army has since been deployed in various parts of DRC capital, Kinshasa, to prevent any unrest, while Mr Tshisekedi’s supporters have taken to the streets to celebrate.
The head of the election commission previously said the opposition candidates wanted a new election because “they know they lost, and they are bad losers”.
President Tshisekedi will be sworn in for a second term on 20 January.