Congolese in uproar over election fraud allegations

Election candidate Mathias Dzonwho came third with 1.9 percent of the vote, said he plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court to cancel the official results.

CAPE TOWN, March 25 (ANA) – Supporters of two candidates in the Republic of Congo’s presidential election said that the poll was marred by election fraud and that the courts should declare the results invalid, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Thursday.

The results of the Sunday vote were announced by Interior Minister Raymond Zephirin Mboulou on Tuesday, declaring President Denis Sassou-Nguesso as the winner, further extending his 36 cumulative years in office, according to TRT World, a Turkish state-owned news channel.

The official results showed that Sassou-Nguesso won by 88.5 percent of ballots cast while Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, Congo’s main presidential opposition candidate, whose death was announced on Monday, won 7.8 percent. The remaining ballots were split among the other contenders.

The 60-year-old Kolelas died on Sunday of Covid-19-related complications as he was being flown to France for treatment, his campaign director said on Monday, according to news agency AFP.

The 77-year-old Sassou-Nguesso, who came to power in a coup in 1979, faced off against seven other candidates, including Kolelas, a former minister who became an opposition politician and another 73-year-old former finance minister Mathias Dzon.

Dzon, who came third with 1.9 percent of the vote, said he plans to appeal to Congo’s constitutional court to cancel the official results, citing an article of the constitution “which provides for the cancellation of the ballot when a candidate dies or is unable to vote”.

He said he will file an appeal with the constitutional court on Thursday asking that the election be annulled because of vote rigging, RFI reported.

However, the head of the national independent electoral commission said that the article in question does not apply this time, TRT World reported.

“Kolelas died after the vote in Paris, so Article 70 cannot be evoked in these conditions,” said Henri Bouka, who is also president of the Supreme Court in Congo.

Meanwhile, Kolelas’ party is alleging fraud based on vote tally sheets showing more votes for the president than voters at three polling stations, and 100 percent of votes at another.

At a news conference, Dzon described the election as “a disastrous vote, rigged and marred by countless irregularities”.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay