Felix Tshisekedi has been announced as the winner of the election to become the Democratic Republic of Congo’s new President. The result will prove to be controversial not because outgoing President Joseph Kabila’s hand-picked candidate didn’t win, but because the expected outcome was a victory for outspoken opposition candidate Martin Fayulu.

The delay in announcing the results also caused some agitation. The results were meant to be made known on Sunday but were announced at about 2am local time on Thursday.

The powerful Catholic church, among others, has urged calm but has made it known that it believes the true winner of the poll was Mr Fayulu. France has also indicated that it believes the announced result may not be accurate.

The full results were, with turnout reportedly 48%:

• Felix Tshisekedi – 7 million votes
• Martin Fayulu – 6.4 million votes
• Emmanuel Shadary – 4.4 million votes

There is a ten day period from the announcement of these results for the filing of complaints and appeals. 

Mr Tshisekedi has already talked in terms of working closely with outgoing President Kabila as partners rather than opponents and it seems that President Kabila has accepted this result. Alternatively, it is suggested that his forces have chosen this outcome as a less bad alternative to a victory for Mr Fayulu.

Click to read Guardian and BBC write-ups on the result.