Congolese wait anxiously for presidential election results as anti-riot police prepare for unrest

The people of Congo continued to wait early Thursday morning to learn who their new president will be, as anti-riot police with water cannons and armoured vehicles surrounded the electoral commission office in the capital, Kinshasa. 

After a delay of about three hours, the country's electoral commission began announcing results from the December elections, starting with the names of hundreds of people who won provincial deputy seats.

The announcement began at about 2 a.m. local time on Thursday (8 p.m. ET Wednesday) and it could take hours before the winner is named. 

Congolese activist groups have urged people to "be ready to massively take to the streets" if the commission does not publish results in accordance with "the truth of the ballot boxes."

On Dec. 30, Congo voted for a successor to departing President Joseph Kabila. The preliminary results of the vote had been expected on Sunday, but the commission indefinitely delayed the announcement, leading some Congolese to suspect possible manipulation in favour of the ruling party.

The government has cut internet service since the day after the election to prevent speculation on social media about who won, and blocked some radio stations.

Residents of Kinshasa said the heavy security presence was a bad sign, with some recalling the violence that followed past disputed elections.

It "may be a message that the publication [of the results] won't meet the expectations of the Congolese people," resident John Kabamba said.

A statement by more than 300 civil society organizations said people should be ready to protest. Releasing untrue results would be considered a "constitutional coup d'etat," said Carbone Beni, co-ordinator of the Filimbi movement, calling on other African nations to make sure the people's vote is respected.

Police installed metal barriers and blocked traffic outside the electoral commission as it continued meetings that began late Tuesday. Spokeswoman Marie-France Idikayi told The Associated Press that "we are waiting for the final deliberations of the electoral commission plenary session to end but the announcement room is prepared."

"Seeing all these barriers, it proves that [the commission] doesn't need or doesn't want to give us the name of the person who was elected," said Kinshasa resident Beni Babutu.

Kabila has been president of the vast, mineral-rich Central African country since 2001. He backs ruling party candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, who is under European Union sanctions for a crackdown on Congolese protesting two years of election delays while he was interior minister.

Prior to the election, the electoral commission cancelled voting in areas of eastern Congo bearing the brunt of the worst Ebola outbreak the country has ever seen. Those areas were strongholds of opposition to Kabila, and local politicians denounced the move as an effort to swing the vote in favour of Shadary. The move also sparked protests.

Leading opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, a Kinshasa lawmaker and businessman, has urged the electoral commission to announce the true results as quickly as possible and warned it not to "play with fire, it is very dangerous."

He said the delay is to "fudge the results" and warned that his coalition would release its own figures if the official ones are in doubt.

Spokespersons for Shadary and the other top opposition candidate, Felix Tshisekedi, both indicated that their candidates won. Tshisekedi's party on Tuesday called him the "presumed winner" and indicated that he has had contact with Kabila "to prepare a peaceful and civilized transfer of power."

Kabila adviser Kikaya Bin Karubi, however, denied any such contact.

The United States, African Union, European Union and others have urged Congo's government to make sure the election results conform to the will of the people. Western pressure likely has little effect, however, as Congo's government has rejected what it calls interference and expelled the EU ambassador days before the vote. Western election observers were not invited.

Many have seen this election as Congo's first chance at a democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence in 1960. But one Congolese election observer group, Symocel, on Tuesday reported "major irregularities" including the disappearance of envelopes containing results from nearly 120 polling stations in Kinshasa, an opposition stronghold.

Congo's powerful Catholic Church has said it found a clear winner from data compiled by its 40,000 observers deployed to all polling stations. Voting regulations prohibit anyone but the electoral commission from announcing results. The church has urged the commission to announce accurate ones.

Congo's ruling party responded angrily, calling the church's announcement "anarchist," and the electoral commission accused the church of "preparing an uprising." The church replied by saying that only the release of false results would incite an uprising.

Electoral commission president Corneille Nangaa has said authorities were aware that "this process has always been surrounded by distrust."

He blamed the delay on opposition parties' insistence that results be counted by hand and not transmitted electronically via voting machines, which Congo used for the first time. The machines were the focus of much concern, with the opposition and observers saying they could open the door to manipulating results.