DR Congo's top court upholds Kabila's poll win

The Democratic Republic of Congo's top court Friday upheld President Joseph Kabila's re-election in last month's vote whose results are contested by his main rival, foreign monitors and rights groups. Supreme court vice-president Jerome Kitoko formally declared that Kabila had won 48.95 percent of the vote against 32.33 percent for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi at the polling stations on November 28.. The court "proclaims the election by a simple majority of Mr Joseph Kabila as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo," Kitoko said. The decision confirmed the results declared on December 9 by the independent national election commission. The rival candidates had a chance to challenge the results in the Supreme Court but few did so, amid wide concerns over the court's independence after Kabila expanded it from seven to 27 members before the election. Kabila himself has admitted the election was flawed, but insists the result remains valid. The European Union, the non-profit Carter Center set up by former US president Jimmy Carter and other election monitors have voiced serious concern about the credibility of the polls, citing problems in the vote count and the loss of huge numbers of ballots. The United States said that the elections were "seriously flawed", even if it is unclear whether the "irregularities" changed the outcome. Kabila was declared the winner of the November 28 vote last Friday, sparking violent protests and looting in the capital and calls from opposition leaders for the international community to intervene. Tshisekedi immediately rejected the result and declared himself president. Earlier Friday leaders from Africa's Great Lakes region welcomed Kabila's re-election and urged his opponents to accept the result, which was initially expected to be delivered on Saturday. "The summit... congratulated the president of DRC on his re-election and urged those not satisfied with the election results to accept them and work towards building the country," the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region said in a statement at the end of a two-day summit in Kampala. Leaders from Burundi, Central African Republic, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia attended the meeting. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni dismissed the election monitors' concerns over the vote count. "It is not up to those observers... to run countries," Museveni told reporters. "In Congo there is a system to appeal if you are not happy... if people are not happy they should go in that system and sort it out." South Africa has also given its blessing to the election result. However on Thursday the lawyers of another defeated presidential candidate Vital Kamerhe, who came third in the vote, stormed out of the Supreme Court in Kinshasa, where they were seeking the nullification of Kabila's re-election. "It is obvious to us that there is no desire to respect the law," lawyer Joseph Mukendi told reporters before walking out of the court. "The lawyers will not take part in a parody of justice." Kamerhe, a former parliament speaker who was once close to Kabila, denounced "intention violations" of the electoral law and "the illegal circulation" of voting ballots ahead of the polls. Kabila secured 100 percent of votes cast at several polling stations. He admitted Monday there were flaws in the elections that handed him a new five-year term but denied that they lacked credibility. That assessment was Kabila's first public statement since the bitterly disputed vote, whose outcome sparked violent protests in the capital and was also criticised by the country's powerful church. "Were there mistakes, errors? Definitely, like in any other election, be it on the continent or otherwise," Kabila told a news conference in Kinshasa with journalists including the BBC. "But does it put in doubt the credibility of the elections? I don't think so." Kabila was catapulted to power in 1991 at the age of 30 after the assassination of his father Laurent.