EVIDENCE! DRC election results rigged in massive fraud – FT

EDINBURGH — The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which suffers from widespread corruption and continuing conflict, is an important trading partner for South Africa. About 20% of foreign goods and services come from South Africa, while South African companies have also invested heavily in the mining sector. Glencore, run by South African Ivan Glasenberg, has been particularly conspicuous in the DRC of late as it is in US government crosshairs in connection with graft. Hopes that the DRC can overcome many of its challenges through the next president have been dashed by allegations that the country has just experienced what looks like its worst electoral fraud in living memory. The scandal is a reminder that deep-seated corruption is very hard to shake and is not only a game that a ruling party can play. – Jackie Cameron

By Thulasizwe Sithole

The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo may have just experienced one of the biggest electoral frauds in recent history, reports the Financial Times.

The country's electoral commission last week announced opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi as the winner of a historic election marking the end of President Joseph Kabila's 18 years in power, but a Financial Times analysis of two separate collections of voting data shows that he didn't win. 

"At 3am Kinshasa time on January 10, the commission told bleary-eyed Congolese that the tallies of the main candidates were as follows: Mr Tshisekedi had 38.6%, rival opposition leader Martin Fayulu 34.8% and ruling party pick Emmanuel Shadary 23.8%.

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