A leading opposition challenger to Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila called on Tuesday for the Central African state's elections to be annulled, accusing authorities of systematic fraud. Vital Kamerhe, a former government minister, said ballots had been marked ahead of the poll in favour of Kabila, and some voters had been prevented from entering polling stations during Monday's chaotic presidential and parliamentary elections.
Three other presidential candidates urged the Congolese not to accept any results from the vote, saying widespread technical problems and fraud meant they would not be credible. "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. "Police chased witnesses from polling stations before counting could start," he said, citing reports by international observers and others that security forces took control of voting stations in Kinshasa.