KINSHASA - A coalition backing President Joseph Kabila won the largest number of seats in CongoÂ’s July 30 parliamentary elections but fell short of an overall majority, according to results from electoral authorities on Friday.KabilaÂ’s Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP) won around 200 of the 500 parliamentary seats, or roughly 40 percent, but would still need support from independent parties to name a prime minister for the vast central African state. KabilaÂ’s rival in a presidential run-off scheduled for Oct. 29, Jean-Pierre Bemba, and his Rally of Congolese Nationalists (RENACO) won more than 80 seats, according to ReutersÂ’ calculations. Veteran opposition politician Antoine GizengaÂ’s PALU party came third in the parliamentary polls, with 34 seats, emerging as a potential kingmaker.
“We lack only a very few votes to assemble a parliamentary majority,” senior AMP member Lambert Mende told U.N. radio Okapi. “We are working actively to make contact with the new deputies, both political parties and individuals.”