African Union calls on DR Congo to delay final vote results

The African Union on Thursday called on Democratic Republic of Congo to suspend the release of the final results of its disputed presidential election due to its doubts over the provisional results.The AU’s rare move injects fresh uncertainty into the post-election process, which was meant to usher in DR Congo’s first democratic transfer of power in the 59 years since it gained independence, but has been mired in controversy since the Dec. 30 vote.The final tally is scheduled to be released by the election commission once the constitutional court has ruled on challenges to the provisional results on Friday, but the group called for this to be postponed following a meeting in Addis Ababa.DR Congo rebutted the African Union’s statement on Friday, saying the constitutional court was independent.