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Elections were opened in the second country of Africa, after deferred elections of more than two years.
Nearly 40 million people have the right to vote in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where President Joseph Kabila – in power since 2001 – is withdrawing.
But the rise was marked by violence and controversy surrounding the decision to exclude nearly 1.3 million people from voting.
On Saturday, rival candidates also failed to agree on a statement aimed at reducing tensions before the election.
Voting began at 05:00 (04:00 GMT) and ends at 17:00.
What is the context for these elections?
If everything goes smoothly, it will be the first peaceful transition in DR Congo since independence from Belgium in 1960.
The current president, Joseph Kabila, succeeded his murdered father, Laurent, in 2001, but he is barred from running for another term under the constitution.
He was supposed to withdraw two years ago, but the elections were postponed after the election commission said it needed more time to register voters.
The decision sparked violent clashes, with the opposition accusing Joseph Kabila of trying to cling to power.
Then last week, the elections were postponed again for seven days because of problems with the deployment of election materials at polling stations.
All this happened after thousands of electronic voting machines – used for the first time – were destroyed in a fire in Kinshasa, the capital.
Who is a candidate for the presidency?
There are 21 candidates, but three leaders:
- Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, former Interior Minister and Kabila Loyalist, who has been hit by EU sanctions for his role in the violent crackdown on opposition protests in 2017;
- Martin Fayulu, a former leader of the oil sector who promised "a dignified and prosperous Congo", but which, according to the poor Congolese, can not advance their cause;
- Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, son of a former leader of the late opposition who promised to make the fight against poverty his priority.
The three main candidates and election officials met on Saturday in a Kinshasa hotel for, as Fayulu said, "sign an agreement guaranteeing that we will all behave properly during and after the electoral process".
But in the end, he and Tshisekedi wanted amendments and refused to sign the text.
This week, the vote in three districts was postponed until March, with the electoral commission accusing the insecurity and Ebola epidemic.
As a result, about 1.2 million people will not be able to vote on Sunday.
The decision actually canceled their votes, with the new president being sworn in by mid-January.
After the announcement, a mob attacked an Ebola clinic in the east of the country.
Regional observers will closely monitor the vote, but European and US observers, who concluded in previous elections in the country, lacked credibility and were not invited.
What is the meaning of DR Congo?
The vast state of Central Africa, rich in mineral resources, is the world's largest producer of cobalt, used to power mobile phones and electric cars.
However, it has high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure and a political and commercial elite accused of enriching itself at the expense of the poor.
He has also been at the center of what some observers call "the world war of Africa", between 1997 and 2003.
The conflict, which has lasted in the states of the region, has claimed the lives of six million people, either directly because of the fighting, or because of diseases and malnutrition.
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