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Police Gather in DR Congo Capital Ahead of Election Protest

by VOA News

   Police gathered Wednesday in the capital of the Democratic Republic of
   Congo in a bid to prevent a demonstration called by opposition parties
   against last week's national elections.

   The government officially banned the Kinshasa protest, saying the
   demonstration was aimed at harming the electoral process.

   Voters experienced delays and in some cases were unable to cast ballots
   as election officials failed to get voting materials to polling places.
   Voting was extended in response to the problems in a move also
   criticized by opposition parties as unconstitutional.

   Partial results released thus far show President Felix Tshisekedi
   leading with about 79% of the vote with 6.1 million ballots counted.

   There were 44 million registered voters.

   Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and
   Reuters.