\n<\/p>\n
Running the Democratic Republic of Congo is a tough and dangerous job. For decades, this African country the size of Western Europe has lurched between dictatorships, wars and vast humanitarian crises<\/a>. Despite extraordinary natural resources<\/a>, it remains desperately poor. Two leaders have been killed.<\/p>\n And yet, 19 candidates are in the race to become Congo\u2019s next president in elections, the fourth in Congo\u2019s history, that took place on Wednesday \u2014 and another 100,000 are running for seats in national, regional and local assemblies.<\/p>\n The vote is being closely watched not only by Congo\u2019s nine neighbors, with whom it shares 6,500 miles of borders, but also by foreign powers. International interest in Congo has soared in recent years as countries try to stem climate change and transition to clean energy: Congo has the world\u2019s second largest rainforest<\/a>, as well as deep stores of the rare minerals<\/a> needed to make electric cars<\/a> and solar panels<\/p>\n After polling stations opened \u2014 or failed to open \u2014 creating long lines and scenes of disorder, the election took a rocky turn. In the capital, Kinshasa, where polling stations opened hours late, heated confrontations ensued between voters and officials. In several provincial towns, frustrated voters ransacked polling sites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n By midmorning, the largest poll monitoring body, run by the Roman Catholic Church, had reported violence at 8 percent of polling stations. By Wednesday evening, the national election commission announced that voting would continue on Thursday in areas where polling stations had failed to open at all.<\/p>\n The most famous presidential candidate is Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018<\/a> for his work with sexual assault victims. But the firm favorite is the incumbent, President Felix Tshisekedi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A voter poll published Tuesday<\/a> by Ebuteli, a Congolese political research organization, and the Congo Research Group, based at New York University, gave Mr. Tshisekedi 49 percent support. His nearest rival, Mo\u00efse Katumbi, a business tycoon and one-time governor of the mineral-rich Katanga province, got 28 percent. Mr. Mukwege got less than 1 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Populism and mud slinging dominated the monthlong campaign. Candidates stoked ethnic tensions with inflammatory language, or even threatened to declare war on neighboring countries. At least one person died in clashes between rival groups, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n Yet many Congolese have been eager to vote. A frantic cacophony filled the broken streets of Kinshasa this week as rival campaigns made a last-minute push for votes. Music blared. Lines of motorbikes splashed through puddles. Bombast flowed, as did money.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the victory before the victory,\u201d declared Rovernick Kola, 29, a motorbike rider waiting to be paid $20 for driving in a convoy that waved posters of a parliamentary candidate.<\/p>\n Organizing an election in such a vast country would tax any bureaucracy \u2014 never mind in the world\u2019s fifth-poorest country, with a population of about 100 million people, and some of Africa\u2019s worst infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n To reach all of Congo\u2019s 75,000 polling stations, the authorities sent Korean-made voting machines by boat on the Congo River, by plane across over 1,000 miles, and by foot into some of the world\u2019s most impenetrable forests \u2014 a journey that can take three weeks, election observers say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ballots for 44 million registered voters were flown in from China, although the enduring conflict in eastern Congo meant at least 1.5 million people were not able to vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The entire effort cost $1.2 billion, the national election commission said.<\/p>\n Voting cards have been a major problem. In Congo\u2019s hot, humid climate, the ink on many cards issued earlier this year has rubbed off in recent weeks. One survey of Kinshasa residents this week found that 73 percent of their cards were illegible \u2014 a recipe for chaos that played out at the polls on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Electoral observers worry that turmoil could facilitate cheating.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government created a system that allows numbers to be manipulated,\u201d said the Rev. Rigobert Minani, the head of the biggest Catholic election group. \u201cThere\u2019s a big potential for fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n Official results are expected within 10 days, although are likely to come sooner, officials say.<\/p>\n When he came to power in 2019, promising to tackle corruption and empower the press, Mr. Tshisekedi offered at least the prospect of change in Congo. But his election was highly contentious.<\/a><\/p>\n Although results tallied by the Catholic Church showed that another candidate had won the December 2018 vote<\/a>, Mr. Tshisekedi struck a power-sharing deal with the outgoing president, Joseph Kabila, that made him president.<\/p>\n The United States blessed that arrangement, which some saw as the best way to end Mr. Kabila\u2019s 18 years of erratic, often harsh rule. But within a year it collapsed, and Mr. Tshisekedi, known to supporters by the diminutive \u201cFatshi,\u201d set about consolidating his power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Since then, critics say that his rule has grown increasingly repressive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At Kinshasa main prison last Saturday, Stanis Bujakera, one of Congo\u2019s best-known journalists, sat in the sweltering courtyard. Nearly 100 days earlier, the police had arrested him on charges of \u201cspreading false information.\u201d Now they were pressing him for his sources.<\/p>\nA logistical nightmare<\/h2>\n
\u2018Fatshi,\u2019 the front-runner<\/h2>\n