Congo's ruling party sweeps legislative elections

President Denis Sassou Nguesso's Congolese Labor Party (PCT) won 111 of the 151 seats in Congo's National Assembly after two rounds of legislative elections, according to results published Tuesday by the Minister of Territorial Administration.

The polls were marked by a low turnout of voters, according to observers. The authorities did not give the rate of participation in this legislative election.

In the second round, the former single party PCT added nine seats to the 102 seats it won in the first round, according to results read out on state television by Interior Minister Guy-Georges Mbaka.

Former president of the Congolese opposition federation Claudine Munari beat PCT Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo.

The Union of Humanist Democrats (UDH-YUKi) of the late opposition leader Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas won seven seats in the new National Assembly, the same number of elected officials as the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS), previously the largest opposition party.

During the electoral process, "peace, serenity and national cohesion have been preserved," said Guy-Georges Mbaka, minister in charge of elections.

The Congolese National Assembly is due to elect a bureau in the next few days while a technical reshuffle of the government is planned, according to government sources.