According to the provisional results of the presidential election published by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), the Nobel Peace Prize laureate received only 0.22% of the votes cast. This amounts to only 39,000 votes, according to the electoral commission's count. These results were confirmed by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

Denis Mukwege did not fervently challenge the results, also notes this French media. One of his representatives signed an "appeal for general mobilization against the sham elections" on his behalf on December 26. However, the candidate was not on the streets of Kinshasa the following day alongside the few opposition activists who had defied the ban on demonstrating issued by the authorities, this media points out.

Denis Mukwege thus seems to have tacitly accepted his defeat without making a statement to congratulate Félix Tshisekedi, the winner of the presidential election with 73% of the votes, according to the same CENI results. "I have done my part. The people have decided otherwise; I respect their direction. But a people that allows itself to be corrupted, that does not denounce injustices and applauds its executioners without resisting their tyrannies, is complicit in its own enslavement and should assume the consequences," Mukwege declared as reported by his close associates.

On the eve of the presidential election, his support collective – composed notably of intellectuals, members of civil society – was already pushing him to withdraw, even though it was this same group that had encouraged him to run for the highest office.

Dido Nsapu