Congo Republic election candidates say vote marred by fraud

Supporters of two candidates in the Congo Republic’s presidential election said on Wednesday that the poll was marred by vote-rigging and that the courts should annul the result.

Provisional results on Tuesday showed that President Denis Sassou Nguesso was re-elected with more than 88% of Sunday’s vote, extending his 36-year rule in the Central African country.

Mathias Dzon, who came third, said he will file an appeal with the constitutional court on Thursday asking that the election be annulled because of vote-rigging. He did not provide proof of fraud.

The party of candidate Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, who died hours after the polls closed, alleged fraud based on vote tally sheets that it shared with Reuters showing more votes for the president than voters at three polling stations, and 100% of votes at another. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the sheets.

Spokespeople for the government, the electoral commission and the constitutional court did not respond to requests for comment.

At a news conference, Dzon described the election as “a disastrous vote, rigged and marred by countless irregularities”.

“I laughed heartily because for me it was a bad-taste joke,” Dzon said, referring to the provisional results.

Dzon, a former finance minister, got 1.9% of the vote. Kolelas, who was being evacuated to France to be treated for COVID-19 when he died, received less than 8%.

Dzon alleged that the government concealed the severity of Kolelas’s illness before the vote to avoid a postponement in the polls, which is required by law when a candidate is incapacitated.

Diplomats and political analysts had expected an easy victory for Sassou, 77, who has a firm grip on state institutions in the country of 5.4 million.

The main opposition party boycotted the vote and two of Sassou’s other main rivals were convicted of crimes after the last election in 2016, ruling them out.