In the Democratic Republic of Congo, partial election results released late Tuesday evening appeared to confirm predictions that the country may be split between supporters of incumbent Joseph Kabila and Jean Pierre Bemba of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo. Meanwhile, the Independent Electoral Commission says while there were instances of irregularities in Sunday’s elections, they are not significant. Grace Lula is a member of the Electoral Commission. She talked with English to Africa reporter James Butty about the latest results.

“In general, the situation is that the candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba has got most of the votes compared to Kabila. In four or more provinces, we’ve got most of the votes. That is Kinshasa, Equateur, Bandundu, and Bakongo. In Kasai and Kasai Oriental, he has got just around the average. But Kabila has got nothing in the two Kasais. In Katanga, he has got 20 percent, but Kabila has got 60; North Kivu, Jean-Pierre Bemba has got 10 percent, Kabila 60. So Kabila has most of the votes just in Katanga and North Kivu. But in general Jean-Pierre Bemba has been voted a lot. I don’t have the results for three provinces – South Kivu, Maniema, and Province Oriental.”

Lula admits that there were some irregularities in Sunday’s elections, but says those errors are not significant.

“How the election was ruled in general was good. There were some difficulties that can be understood as fraud or just misunderstanding from the voters, misunderstanding also from the people who were working in the voting station. But it is too small to consider that the entire result will be bad.”

Lula confirmed claims made to VOA by presidential candidate Alafuele Kalala that his press secretary and special assistant were kidnapped on the day of the election, Sunday. She says she was informed late Tuesday that the two had been released.

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