Republic of Congo holds presidential election

• Source: Xinhua
• [08:03 July 13 2009]
• Comments

Voting ended peacefully at 6:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday in the Republic of Congo, leaving the central African country's four million people waiting to see whether President Denis Sassou-Nguesso will secure re-election for another seven-year term or any of his 12 challengers can turn out to be a dark horse.

People line to cast their votes at a polling station in Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo, July 12, 2009. Voting started on Sunday morning in Republic of Congo's presidential election. Some 2 million voters are expected to the polling stations to elect a president for the next seven-year term. (Xinhua/Shu Shi)

Voting stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) in the morning. By 6:00 in the evening, stations in the country's capital Brazzaville generally closed peacefully, without any violence as some people had feared.

A random check to four voting stations here showed that voter turnout ranged from some 50 percent to around 70 percent.

Mouambenga Marius, chief of the nation's election observers' organization, told Xinhua at the Marie de Quenze voting station that all work proceeded normally on the voting day. He said the election had been peaceful and orderly so far.

On the streets of capital Brazzaville, a city of just over one million population, pedestrians or vehicles were rarely seen on the election day. At voting stations, people came in small groups to cast their ballots.

"I'd like to thank all the people involved in organizing this election. People had feared there could be violence but I see the voting stations here are peaceful, I saw the policemen helping disabled people to come to vote," said Catherine Milandou, a voter.