The long-awaited vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo was overshadowed by protests and delays in some areas. The opposition has accused the government of fraud and of manipulating the results. In some areas, protests erupted over reports of ballot stuffing and other irregularities while in others, voting was delayed as ballots ran out and due to slow processing of biometric voter registration lists. Monday’s election was the country’s first democratic vote in more than two decades and was intended to usher in a peaceful transition of power from the current president, Joseph Kabila, to his successor. It is too early to tell whether the vote was ultimately successful in providing a fair, democratic election, but tensions are clearly high in the country.
