Thousands of party supporters of veteran opposition politician Etienne Tshisekedi marched through the streets of the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, on Wednesday demanding that their Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UPDS) be integrated into the country's election organisational structures.

Registration offices for candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential and legislative elections opened on Friday in the capital, Kinshasa.

Parliament has adopted a bill giving the Independent Electoral Commission 110 days to organise national democratic elections as soon as Congo's President Joseph Kabila signs the document into law, the commission's second vice-president, Norbert Bansegezi Kantintima, said on Wednesday.

An overwhelming number of voters have approved a new constitution put to a referendum in December 2005, which is expected to lead to general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, official results of the poll show.

Veteran politician Etienne Tshisekedi reversed on Monday his call for a boycott of general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), due in 2006.

Initial trends in the Democratic Republic of Congo's constitutional referendum show overwhelming support for the document, which, if approved, should clear the way for general elections in 2006.

Voters continued trickling into polling stations throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday for the second day of voting on the country's new draft constitution.

Almost 25 million voters in the DRC could prepare the way for the country's first presidential and parliamentary elections if they accept the draft constitution that is to be presented to them on Sunday in a referendum, senior diplomats said in Kinshasa.

The head of an advanced team of nine EU observers of a constitutional referendum set to take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 18 December declared on Monday that he would make an exhaustive and unbiased assessment of preparations for the vote.

Tension is escalating in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the police and soldiers are intervening to disperse the young demonstrators that took the streets this morning in protest against the extension of the transition and postponement of elections.