By Godfrey Olukya

ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo 

The leader of the biggest opposition party in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, was declared the winner of Dec. 30 presidential elections.

Announcing provisional results early Thursday, the head of the country's Independent National Election Commission Corneille Nangaa said Felix Tshisekedi won by 38.57 percent.

UN radio in DRC has reported that according to the provisional results published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) on Thursday, the election’s participation rate was 47.6 percent. Approximately 18,280,820 valid votes were cast.

Martin Fayulu came in second with 6,366,732 votes (35.2 percent). Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary was third with 4,357,359 votes (23.8 percent).

According to the calendar of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) refitted, the final results of this election must be proclaimed by the Constitutional Court on Jan. 15. The oath of the new president is scheduled for Jan. 18.

Twenty-one candidates were running in the race for highest office. Vital Kamerhe withdrew in favor of Felix Tshisekedi, with whom he formed the Coalition Towards Change (CACH). Freddy Matungulu, Sylvain Masheke and Jean-Philibert Mabaya joined Martin Fayulu.

The presidential election was initially supposed to take place in 2016, but president Joseph Kabila said it could not take place at that time because most people, especially the youth, had not been registered to participate.