Renson Mwakandana
Two rounds of legislative elections resulted in 111 of the 151 seats in the Congo’s National Assembly going to the Congolese Labor Party (PCT), according to results released on Tuesday by the Minister of Territorial Administration.
Observers said that there was a poor voter turnout at the polls. The rate of voter turnout in this parliamentary election was not disclosed by the authorities.
Results were handed out on state television by Interior Minister Guy-Georges Mbaka, who stated that the erstwhile single-party PCT increased its 102 seats gained in the first round by nine seats in the second round.
Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, the PCT Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, lost against Claudine Munari, the former head of the Congolese opposition federation.
The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS), the previous strongest opposition group, lost its majority when the Union of Humanist Democrats (UDH-YUKi) of the late opposition leader Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas gained seven seats in the new National Assembly.
Guy-Georges Mbaka, the minister in charge of elections, declared that “peace, serenity and national cohesion have been preserved” during the voting process.
According to official sources, the Congolese National Assembly will soon nominate a bureau while a technical reorganization of the administration is also anticipated.
