Kabila and Ramazani cast vote in Kinshasa

The out going president of the Democratic Republic of Cong, Joseph Kabila and his former interior minister-turned presidential candidate, Emmanuel Shadary have cast their vote in Kinshasa.

President Kabila and the candidate of the Common Front for Congo, the ruling coalition, Emmanuel Ramazani, were among the few voters present at the Athénée polling centre in Kinshasa’s Gombe district, where there was no large turnout in the 14 polling stations.

via PerilOfAfrica DR Congo election: Shadary and Kabila their votes https://t.co/39ebPHSjgF pic.twitter.com/dHE8gmXA3Y

— MarthaLeah Nangalama (mlnangalama) December 30, 2018

After voting, Kabila urged others to vote: “My message today to my compatriots is to come and vote for their candidates and brave the rain.”

Shadary called for “peace and calm,” adding “I am very confident in victory because the Congolese people will trust me, I campaigned all over the country.”

The much anticipated DRC election is taking place after it was postponed three times since the end of his second term two years ago in December 2016.

President of #DRCongo Joseph Kabila and citizens cast their votes in the presidential elections
.#DRCongoElections2018 #DRCElections #Forsan_News pic.twitter.com/WgIAjCe8GQ

— Forsan News EN (@Fnews_english) December 30, 2018

The Latest: Congo's outgoing president Kabila votes https://t.co/8jFcXhJqyC pic.twitter.com/W9Q6ITjCLj

— BastilleGlobal (@BastilleGlobal) December 30, 2018

More than 40 million Congolese have registered to elect the successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the central African country for 17 years.

As many as 21 candidates are competing to succeed Kabila, who came to power following the assassination of his father in 2001.

The provisional results will be announced on 6 January, 2019.

For these elections, Kinshasa refused any logistical assistance from the United Nations, which has been present in Congo for 20 years, as well as any Western observation mission.

The EU representative in the DRC flew to Brussels on Saturday evening, after being ordered by the authorities to leave the country on Thursday.

#CongoVotes: President Joseph Kabila votes for his successor, former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

In the second picture is opposition candidate Fayulu who is favoured by a recent poll to become the next president of Congo. #CongoElection pic.twitter.com/EKqDTDadDS

— Rogers Atukunda (@rarrigz) December 30, 2018

AFP