The handshake has divided Jubilee and decimated Opposition

Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in as President of DRC on Thursday after the Constitutional Court endorsed the result that the Electoral Commission had earlier declared. However, genuine reservations about the outcome remain as leaked evidence from the same Electoral Commission reveal that Martin Fayulu had five million votes stolen from his tally. According to that leaked Excel Document Fayulu got 60 per cent of the vote and not surprisingly that figure corresponds exactly with what the Catholic Church established after tallying the results from its 40,000 observers. 

The African Union (AU) as well as France and South Africa had earlier expressed strong doubts about the outcome and there were many calls for a recount. However, the ‘accept and move on’ viewpoint spread like a pandemic and most countries sent representatives to the swearing in although Uhuru Kenyatta was the only head of state to attend. Stability takes priority over electoral justice in what we all can recognise as a familiar narrative. This continental trend of accepting disputed results and tolerating ballot theft will very soon destroy democracy as voters realise that their vote does not really matter. Other factors frequently determine the winner.