The DRC Supreme Court on November 27 2006 confirmed Joseph Kabila as the new President of the DRC, and found against the legal protestations of election irregularities by his presidential rival Jean Pierre Bemba.

At 35 years of age, Joseph Kabila is the new President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Supreme Court upheld the second round election results, announced on November 15 last by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which gave Joseph Kabila a majority of 58.05% of the votes in the October 29 second round elections.

Futhermore, the court verified that Jean Pierre Bemba received 41.95% of the votes, as published by the IEC.

The court found against the eight election contestations of Mr. Bemba?s MLC party of fraud and other election irregularities, including allegations of abuse of special electoral lists and 2,804 non registered voting centres.

The MLC submitted their eight election result contestations to the Supreme Court on November 18 last.

The court completed its work despite the protests outside the court by an angry pro Bemba mob on Tuesday November 21 last.

The violent protest forced the court to adjourn their work for two days, as the court complex was pillaged and set ablaze causing considerable damage.

Today?s Supreme Court declarations conclude the presidential elections in the DRC, where over 16 million Congolese, representing 65.36% of the electorate, voted to elect their new leader.

The tasks facing the new president are immense, as he seeks to rebuild the vast state of the Congo after the wars and conflicts of the previous decade, which have caused the deaths of an estimated four million Congolese, and destroyed much of the infrastructure and organs of the state.

Joseph Kabila is due to be formally declared President on December 10.