The runner up in DR Congo’s presidential election, Martin Fayulu, has rejected an MP seat offered to him by the National Assembly, saying he rightfully won the December 30 vote.
He has described the seat as inappropriate for someone who considers himself DR Congo’s elected president.
The opposition leader garnered 34.8 percent of the vote against the incumbent Felix Tshisekedi’s 38.5 percent, but maintains the numbers stood closer to 60 percent of the vote.
Tshisekedi has been widely accepted as the mineral-rich country’s new leader, despite a verbal onslaught directed at him by Fayulu.
“I was elected president of the republic – I cannot fall back on being an MP, never!” he told AFP.
“I am the elected president, and this is what I consider myself to be. I cannot be both the elected president and an MP,” Fayulu said.
An aide to opposition figure confirmed that Fayulu had written to the administration of the National Assembly to say “he will not take his seat as a member for the city of Kinshasa.”
The recent election marked the first peaceful transition of power since the DR Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
