Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo have overwhelmingly backed the new postwar constitution.

Election officials said Saturday that 83 percent of voters said "yes" to the draft document, with more than more than two-thirds of the ballots counted.

International observers have called the vote free and fair.

Once approved, the constitution will clear the way for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held by June 2006.

Congo has been struggling to emerge from decades of instability and violence. A five-year war that ended in 2003 killed some four million people.

The United Nations maintains its largest peacekeeping force in Congo.