KINSHASA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Eighty-two candidates in the national and provincial legislative elections of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were disqualified, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced late Friday.
CENI accused the 82 candidates of fraud, corruption, vandalism of electoral materials, incitement to violence, or illegal detention of electrical voting devices on the polling day for the general elections on Dec. 20.
The president of CENI, Denis Kadima, affirmed that the irregularities reported during the electoral process were "insignificant" and would not affect the results of the elections.
The final result of the presidential election is scheduled to be released on Jan. 12.
On the election day, 44 million registered voters out of some 100 million population were supposed to vote for their president, almost all the 500 members of the National Assembly, and almost all the 780 elected members of the 26 provincial assemblies.
In the territories of Kwamouth, Masisi, and Rutshuru, legislative elections were postponed to a later date due to armed conflicts. The same number of assembly seats for these districts are reserved as in the last elections.
The election drew international attention as it is seen as the second peaceful power transfer in the country's history since its independence from Belgium in June 1960. ■
