Opposition in DR Congo calls for protest

The opposition leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Martin Fayulu, called on his supporters to hold demonstrations after the Constitutional Court rejected his challenge to the results of the official presidential election.

The rival opposition candidate, Felix Tshisekedi, was declared the winner of the December 30 poll.

Fayulu said Tshisekedi had a power-sharing agreement with outgoing president Joseph Kabila.

Mr. Tshisekedi's team denies it.

His supporters took to the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, after the decision was made early Sunday morning to celebrate.

Despite the court's ruling, Fayulu said he was the "legitimate" president.

"With this decision, the constitutional court has challenged the Congolese people, the African Union and the entire international community," he said after the decision.

He added that his supporters should organize "non-violent demonstrations throughout the country to defend his sovereignty".

Felix Tshisekedi's supporters celebrated the court's decision

The African Union (AU) said on Friday that there were "serious doubts" about the outcome of the elections.

What did the court say?

The court said Fayulu had failed to prove that the electoral commission had announced false results.

He then declared "Felix Tshisekedi President of the Democratic Republic of Congo by simple majority".

He should now take an oath within 10 days.

Violence has always accompanied the change of leadership in the country.

But the quarrel around the results has begun to hope that the election would allow the first transfer of power ordered since the independence of DR Congo by Belgium in 1960.

What about the December 30th poll?

The electoral commission had previously announced that Mr Tshisekedi had received 38.5% of the vote, compared to 34.7% for Mr Fayulu.

The candidate of the ruling coalition, Emmanuel Shadary, took 23.8%.

However, Fayulu said Tshisekedi had reached an agreement with Kabila, who has been in power for 18 years.

Felix Tshisekedi at the head of the largest opposition party in the DRC, founded by his late father

Mr. Kabila was constitutionally ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.

The elections should have been held before the end of 2016 but have been postponed several times due to logistical problems, officials said.

There was a series of delays on the day of the vote. The failure of new electronic voting machines in some polling stations was one of the challenges.

Elections were tainted by violence and controversy over the decision to postpone the vote in some areas for health and safety reasons, excluding some 1.26 million voters out of nearly 40 million.

What did others say?

Official figures have been challenged by the influence of the Catholic Church, which claims to have deployed 40,000 election observers across the country.

International experts based in the United States, as well as the French and German governments, have also expressed doubts.

The UN said ethnic violence in the west of the country had killed at least 890 people in just three days last month.

Clashes between the communities of Banunu and Batende took place in four villages in the Yumbi region between December 16 and 18, according to the UN.

Most of the region's population was reportedly displaced, including some 16,000 people who sought refuge across the Congo River for the neighboring Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville.