Kabila's camp wins parliament majority

2012-02-02 09:36

Kinshasa - President Joseph Kabila's ruling PPRD party and its allies won a parliamentary majority in November elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to official results released on Thursday.

The camp of the PPRD and its allied parties captured an absolute majority of about 260 seats on the 500-seat National Assembly while the opposition won about 110 seats, according to figures released by the electoral commission.

The rest are held by a number of very small parties who are not in official alliance with either camp. About 100 parties will be represented in the new parliament, many with just one or two seats.

Kabila's party obtained 62 seats, the biggest number - down from 111 in 2006 elections.

Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which had boycotted the 2006 polls, followed with 41 seats.

The results do not include 17 seats in seven voting districts where the electoral commission had annulled the vote due to election violence.

Tshisekedi had finished second to Kabila in presidential elections also held on November 28. He has denounced widespread fraud in both the presidential and parliamentary polls.

Foreign and Congolese observer teams also reported irregularities.

Kabila has been in power since January 2001.

- AFP