U.S. 'welcomes' Congo president-elect despite concerns over election's legitimacy

The United States on Wednesday welcomed a top Congolese court's certification of Felix Tshisekedi as the new president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The country's Constitutional Court on Sunday backed Tshisekedi's contested presidential election victory, but his main rival rejected the ruling, called for protests and declared himself leader.

"The United States welcomes the Congolese Constitutional Court's certification of Felix Tshisekedi as the next President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. "We are committed to working with the new DRC government."

Last month's election was meant to mark the first democratic transfer of power in the vast central African country, where conflicts have regularly destabilized the region and outgoing President Joseph Kabila stayed on two years past the end of his last term.

But monitors pointed to major flaws in the voting. Unrest over the vote has already killed 34 people, wounded 59 and led to 241 "arbitrary arrests" for the week after the provisional results were announced on Jan. 10, according to the UN human rights office.

The electoral commission has said Tshisekedi won 38 per cent of the vote and Martin Fayulu 34 per cent. However, results compiled by the influential Catholic Church's 40,000 election observers show Fayulu won easily with 61 per cent.

As well, leaked data published by some media outlets in the country and attributed to the electoral commission, Fayulu had an insurmountable lead with 86 per cent of the vote counted.

Global Affairs Canada released a statement on Jan. 10 saying it "expects that the choice expressed by the Congolese people on this occasion will be respected," while stressing the importance of holding "free, fair and transparent elections."

The U.S. statement on Wednesday called on the new government "to include a broad representation of Congo's political stakeholders and to address reports of electoral irregularities."