'Cheating' in Congo's vote count

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/6130312.stm

Version 0 of 1.

An ally of presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba has claimed there is evidence of cheating in vote counting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Eve Bazaiba said the official results so far from October's presidential run-off do not tally with the figures collected by her political alliance.

President Joseph Kabila has taken the lead in partial results that are mainly from the east, where he is popular.

An election official said complaints should not be played out in the media.

A previous round of voting saw clashes between armed supporters of the two front-runners when results came out.

We understand the game they want to play, to increase tensions among the people Electoral official Dieudonne Mirimo

A count of 11% of the ballots show Mr Kabila had 69.68% of the vote, compared to Mr Bemba's 30.32%.

The full results are not expected until 19 November and there are great fears that the results could provoke fresh violence.

The Union for the National Coalition's accusations come a day after the two presidential rivals met in the capital, Kinshasa.

The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says they agreed to challenge the results by legal means.

'Remain watchful'

Ms Bazaiba told the BBC that there was no transparency in the count so far and the coalition that supports Mr Bemba wanted this corrected.

UN peacekeepers provided logistical support for the vote

"Our representatives have been refused entry into tally centres like in Bukavu and Kisangani recently," she said.

"If there were just two or three cases, we could say that there is an error. But this is systematic in all the voting stations," she said earlier at a press conference.

"We believe there is a policy of cheating that we can't accept."

Ms Bazaiba also called for the Congolese people to "remain watchful".

But electoral official Dieudonne Mirimo said such behaviour would make people nervous.

"We understand the game they want to play, to increase tensions among the people," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

Individuals with grievances about the election count should use the appropriate mechanisms rather than complain to the media, he said.

International observers generally praised the vote as being well-run, despite some disruptions in the north-east of the country.

The election - DR Congo's first democratic one in more than 40 years - was intended to close the door on decades of dictatorship and conflict.

Counting the votes is a time-consuming process as all the ballot papers had to be transported from sometimes remote locations to compilation centres.

DR Congo is two-thirds the size of western Europe and has just 300 miles of paved roads.

The country's rich reserves of minerals such as gold, diamonds and coltan - used in mobile phones - have attracted a series of armed groups, both Congolese and foreign, intent on looting.