Two additional candidates from the recent presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo affirmed on Tuesday that they will not pursue legal action, increasing the likelihood that President Felix Tshisekedi's provisional victory will be officially confirmed.
The election commission in Congo declared on Sunday that Tshisekedi had garnered over 73% of the vote in the December 20 election, with businessman Moise Katumbi as his nearest challenger, securing approximately 18%.
While a significant number of opposition candidates assert that the election was marred by fraud and have called for protests, the government has rejected demands for a vote rerun. The deadline to contest the outcome of the presidential election is set to expire on Wednesday.
Martin Fayulu, a former energy executive and election contestant, stated to Reuters that he would not file a legal challenge due to a lack of trust in the Constitutional Court, which would preside over such matters. Fayulu remarked, "Knowing how Felix Tshisekedi appointed the members of this court on July 17, 2020, we can expect nothing from it."
Denis Mukwege, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning gynaecologist and another challenger to Tshisekedi, also decided against taking his case to the Constitutional Court. Mukwege's chief of staff, Vital Barholere, likened the current political climate to a caricature, questioning the effectiveness of an appeal in such a context. Barholere mentioned, "We are first working to consolidate the common front of the opposition and civil society."
A month before the election, Fayulu, Mukwege, and other opposition leaders had filed a case before the Constitutional Court to address potential irregularities and fraud, but the case failed.
Prior to the release of the provisional results, Katumbi had already ruled out a legal challenge, citing concerns about the independence of state institutions. Katumbi's spokesperson, Herve Diakiese, confirmed that this stance had not changed.
If any cases challenging the election outcome are brought before it, the Constitutional Court has seven days to rule and proclaim the final result.
