Democratic Republic of Congo looked set for a presidential runoff vote as early poll results from the capital today dragged President Joseph Kabila's tally below the 50 per cent needed for a first-round win.
Results have been trickling in from across the vast central African country since the July 30th vote, with Mr Kabila performing strongly in his native east and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba doing better in the west around the capital Kinshasa.
Mr Kabila had been leading with more than 50 per cent of votes counted, but results from one of the four Kinshasa compilation centres released on Thursday dragged down his running total to 48.4 per cent, well ahead of Mr Bemba on 16.2 per cent, with numbers in from just over half the constituencies nationwide.
"It's not done and dusted but it looks pretty certain that there will be a second round now," one diplomat said.
"Kabila will lose ground with each Kinshasa centre." The prospect of a turbulent lead-up to a Kabila-Bemba showdown was underscored when Congo's media authority suspended television stations close to both candidates today, accusing them of trying to incite violence.
Mr Kabila, a native of the Swahili-speaking east who took over the presidency when his father was murdered in 2001, is unpopular in mainly Lingala-speaking Kinshasa.
Political analysts say most votes in the city will have gone to Mr Bemba and other candidates from the 32-strong field. Kinshasa accounts for 3 million of the total 25 million registered voters, and elections specialists say turnout in the chaotic city was around 80 per cent.
The polls were the first free vote in over four decades and are meant to offer the mineral-rich African giant a fresh start after a 1998-2003 war that has killed over four million people, mostly from hunger and disease.