Congo: Opposition candidate Felix Tshikedi wins election

Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi has won the Democratic Republic of Congo's tightly contested presidential vote, the electoral commission says.

The result announced early on Thursday, means the first electoral transfer of power in 59 years of independence in the DRC.

The provisional result puts him ahead of rival opposition candidate Martin Fayulu who has denounced it as a fraud. France has also questioned the outcome.

If confirmed, Tshisekedi will be the first opposition challenger to win since DR Congo gained independence. Current President Joseph Kabila is stepping down after 18 years in office.

Speaking to thousands of cheering supporters in the capital Kinshasa, Tshisekedi said he would be the president “of all Congolese”.

The election outcome was initially expected to be announced on Sunday. The interim result can still be challenged.

In the early hours of Thursday the head of DR Congo's National Electoral Commission (Ceni), Corneille Nangaa said Tshisekedi had received 38.5% of the vote and had been "provisionally declared the elected president".

The full results were, with turnout reportedly 48%:

Tshisekedi, who is the son of late veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, told supporters at his Union for Democracy and Social Progress party headquarters in Kinshasa that Kabila should no longer be seen as a rival.

"I pay tribute to President Joseph Kabila and today we should no longer see him as an adversary, but rather, a partner in democratic change in our country," he said.

Tshisekedi has promised to make the fight against poverty his priority.

Fayulu, a former oil tycoon, dismissed the results as having "nothing to do with the truth".

Kabila took over from his assassinated father Laurent in 2001. He was elected in 2006 and secured another term in controversial elections in 2011.

He was barred from running for another term under the constitution and was supposed to step down two years ago, but the election was postponed after the electoral commission said it needed more time to register voters.