The Democratic Republic of Congo's election stand-off intensified Sunday after a team of international observers reported that incumbent Joseph Kabila's win was so flawed it lacked credibility. Kabila, in power since 2001, was on Friday named the winner of the November 28 poll, but runner-up Etienne Tshisekedi immediately rejected the result and declared himself president.
Violent protests and looting erupted in Kinshasa when Kabila's win was announced, but a heavy security force presence including police, presidential guards and some 20,000 soldiers deployed to the capital had largely restored a tense calm Sunday.
Public transportation had resumed after virtually disappearing from the streets Saturday, and people were again out and about after a day of eerie quiet in the sprawling city of 10 million.
Police said four people had been killed Friday and Saturday as security forces used tear gas and fired shots in the air and at alleged looters to put down the unrest. UN broadcaster Radio Okapi said six had been killed.
Meanwhile the Carter Center, a non-profit organisation that monitored the election, added momentum Saturday to Tshisekedi's refusal to accept the results, saying they "lack credibility".
"Multiple locations... reported impossibly high rates of 99 to 100 percent voter turnout with all, or nearly all, votes going to incumbent President Joseph Kabila," according to a statement from the group, founded by former US president Jimmy Carter.
"These and other observations point to mismanagement of the results process and compromise the integrity of the presidential election." The Carter Center said its 70 observers gave a rating of "poor" to 40 percent of the 169 compilation centres where results were tabulated.
It reported irregularities including the loss of nearly 2,000 polling station results in Kinshasa, a Tshisekedi stronghold, and chaos in the counting process ranging from ballots piled on the floor and stepped on to results sheets soaked in a rain storm then hung on sticks to dry.
"This assessment does not propose that the final order of candidates is necessarily different than announced... only that the results process is not credible," it said.
The European Union and other international and local observers have also cited serious problems with the vote, ranging from disorganisation at polling stations to ballot box stuffing.
The election commission said Kabila had won 49 percent of the vote to 32 percent for Tshisekedi.
Tshisekedi claimed his party's own count based on results taken directly from polling stations showed he had in fact won with 54 percent.
"As a result, I consider myself from this day on as the elected president," he said.
Government spokesman and Communications Minister Lambert Mende on Saturday threatened Tshisekedi with prosecution for the statement, which he called an "attack on the constitution".
Exacerbating the volatile atmosphere, national police chief Charles Bisengimana said security forces had fatally shot three looters and a woman had been killed by a stray bullet in the unrest after Kabila's win was declared.