Millions Go to the Polls in Congo

Voters hold up their identification cards as they wait outside a polling station in Bunia, more than 1,100 miles northeast of Kinshasa. Some polls opened late, but there were few serious incidents amid a heavy security presence. (By Anjan Sundaram -- Associated Press)

Doubts that the election would be fair caused some voters to stay away from polling places Sunday. Turnout was low in the central diamond-mining city of Mbuji-Mayi, a stronghold of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who urged a boycott on grounds the vote would be rigged. Two polling stations there were burned.

In Kinshasa, a gang of angry-looking young men gathered near Tshisekedi's house, threatening violence.

"This election is tricky," shouted Gaby Tambatamba, 26, to a passing reporter. "We'll put fire on the country."

Tambatamba said he could not accept a continuation of Kabila's rule because he is not truly Congolese. Persistent rumors about Kabila's parentage -- many opposition supporters say his mother was Rwandan and his father was not Laurent Kabila but a man from Tanzania -- have undermined his popularity at a time of surging nationalism.

Many voters also complain that Kabila is supported by the United States and European powers, which together have largely paid for the 17,600 U.N. troops in Congo, the largest peacekeeping force in the world.

More than 25 million Congolese out of an estimated population of 60 million registered to vote in the election for a new president and national parliament. If none of the 32 presidential candidates receives more than half of the votes, the two top finishers will face each other in a runoff, likely in October.

The last multiparty election was in 1960, shortly after Belgium ended decades of brutal colonial rule. Another election season began in 1965 but was interrupted by a coup led by Mobutu Sese Seko, who kept power for 32 years.

In Kinshasa, Regine Mambu, 53, a YWCA election observer who voted in an upscale neighborhood, credited Joseph Kabila with bringing much-needed stability. He signed a 2002 peace deal, and though fighting continued, especially in Congo's heavily populated and lawless east, the country is more stable than it has been at any time since Mobutu's rule.

"We are getting on the train, and we are going forward toward development and toward making order in the country," Mambu said. "If you have peace, you have security, you can do anything."

On Sunday, Mambu and other voters expressed joy at having played a role in the historic day. And she played down the possibility of unrest when results are announced.

"There are many people who want to have peace," she said.

Others were more concerned.

"We have a population that is not well-educated for these kind of events," said Jean Jacques Kabonzo, 45, a literature professor at the University of Kinshasa. "It is the first time, and we don't know how the population will react."

Jean de Paul Mabundu, 43, an engineer, said he had a pretty good idea. If Kabila is named the winner, Mabundu said, riots will erupt in Kinshasa.

Mabundu added with a smile, "If you want to eat an omelet, you must break some eggs."