The ruling coalition, the Common Front for Congo, FCC, on Friday blasted the Roman Catholic Church, CENCO, leadership over claims it knew an outright winner of the December 30 presidential poll.

FCC spokesman, Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, at a press conference in the capital Kinshasa said the church by their pronouncements was sowing seeds of chaos.

“The Common Front for the Congo firmly deplores, denounces and condemns the partisan, irresponsible and anarchic attitude of the CENCO.

“… and Mr Abbot Nshole Donatien in particular who, having deployed less than a quarter of observers to the totality of the planned polling stations, consisting of 40,000 short term observers and 1,026 long term observers, allows himself to proclaim, totally illegally, trends that culminate in the choice of a well identified candidate for the presidential vote.”

On January 3, 2019, the Catholic Church says it knows winner of polls.

The influential Roman Catholic Church in the DRC says there is an outright winner of the December 30 presidential polls. Its comments comes at a time the elections body, CENI, says preliminary results will be delayed beyond Sunday, January 6, 2018.

The body of bishops, CENCO, did not mention the candidate who had won per its computation of results. Neither did it disclose the data or source of information it was depending on.

The body on Thursday affirmed that per figures available to them, there was a clear winner from the vote and tasked the elections body, CENI, to announce the true will of the people.

CENI via its chairman Corneille Nangaa had earlier this week said it was unable to release preliminary results on January 6, 2019 due to slow transmission of tally sheets.

January 4, 2019: EU statement on polls

With the holding of elections on December 30, the Democratic Republic of Congo is at a historic moment towards a democratic transition. International and local observers have spoken.

The EU joins calls from, among others, the African Union Election Observation Mission and the Chairperson of the AU Commission, to ensure that the results of the proclamation are in line with the vote of the Congolese people.

All political actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo have the responsibility to contribute to the success of this transition in a spirit of reconciliation and peace.

The EU, for its part, remains ready to support this process in close consultation with its partners, particularly UN and African partners.