DRC ELECTIONS PPRD, INDEPENDENTS STILL LEADING IN

UNCLAS KINSHAA 001386 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM KPKO CG ELECTIONS SUBJECT: DRC ELECTIONS PPRD, INDEPENDENTS STILL LEADING IN LEGISLATIVEBALLOTING REF: KINSHASA 1370 ¶1. (U) Summary.The latest legislative election results releasedby the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) show the People's Party for Recostruction and Development (PPRD) leading all other parties with 26 percent of the 250 seats awarded to date. A total of 39 independent candidates have won seats in the future National Assembly, representing 16 percent of the legislature's composition thus far. No party or coalition has captured a majority of the seats required to control the Assembly. End summary. ¶2. (U) According to initial figures announced August 30 by the CEI, 104 of 169 electoral districts have reported their results from the July 30 National Assembly elections. This total represents 250 of the 500 seats for the Assembly. Based on the preliminary results, the PPRD, which is affiliated with President Kabila, leads all other parties with 65 seats (26 percent) thus far. Independent candidates as a group (although not to be considered one voting bloc) have won 39 seats (16 percent),while Vice President Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) party has captured 31 seats (12 percent) thus far. A total of 41 parties to date have won seats in the National Assembly, with 8,882,802 valid ballots having been counted. No results have yet been released from Kinshasa, which will favor parties other than the PPRD. ¶2. (U) Parties included in the Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP),an umbrella organization of political groups that supported Kabila's presidential campaign and includes the PPRD, has won an additional 16 seats, bringing the AMP's overall total to 81 seats (32 percent). The Rally of Congolese Nationalists (RENACO),a platform of political parties which includes Bemba's MLC, has a total of 35 seats (14 percent) thus far. No party or coalition yet controls a majority of seats for the National Assembly. ¶3. (U) Two smaller political parties have gained seats and now represent small yet significant percentages of the Assembly's composition. Forces for Renewal, led by Minister of Regional Cooperation Mbusa Nyamwisi, has won 13 seats (five percent) to date. The Movement for Social Renewal (MSR) has captured 16 seats, representing six percent of the total awarded thus far. Both parties may ally with Kabila and the PPRD-AMP coalition, but neither are officially members of the alliance. Nyamwisi, who ran for president, called on his supporters before the July 30 vote to cast their ballots for Kabila. He did not exhort his supporters, though, to vote for PPRD or AMP-allied candidates in the legislative elections. Similarly, the MSR is led by politicians close to Kabila and his advisers, but has not publicly declared an alliance with the AMP or Kabila. In any event, predictions of potential alliances are speculative until full National Assembly results are known. ¶4. (U) North Kivu province is the first to report all of its electoral districts. Of the 48 seats assigned to the province, the PPRD won 15 (with AMP-affiliated parties adding another four seats). Forces of Renewal and the Federalist Christian Democracy party (which includes presidential candidate Pierre Pay Pay) each won six seats in the province, while Vice President Azarias Ruberwa's Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) won five and the MSR party won four. ¶5. (U) Nearly two-thirds of the seats awarded to date are from eastern provinces in the DRC. Of the 161 seats announced in North and South Kivu, Maniema, Katanga and Orientale provinces, the PPRD has won 53. A total of 61 seats has been awarded in the western provinces of Bas-Congo, Equateur and Bandundu, of which the MLC has won 17. Independent candidates are doing comparatively well in the central Kasai provinces, winning 8 of the 28 seats awarded there thus far. ¶6. (U) Among the well-known political personalities who have won their respective legislative races are Giala Mobutu, one of the former dictator's sons, who was awarded a seat in Equateur province with the UDEMO party (headed by his brother and presidential candidate Nzanga Mobutu),and Minister of Portfolio Celestin Vunabandi (an ethnic Hutu),who won his seat in North Kivu. Samba Kaputo, President Kabila's security adviser, won a seat in Katanga province. MEECE