Polls have closed in national elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo – the first multi-party vote in 40 years… Many people walked miles to get to the polling stations, and some queued overnight, waiting for them to open.

And, although many people are hungry and weary from a long civil war, voter Donatien Kalinga "said his heart was ‘full of joy’ at the prospect of voting for the first time."

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Polling stations opened at 6 a.m. to accommodate almost 25 million voters who will have to choose from among 32 candidates for the presidential election, and more than 9,000 candidates for the National Assembly.

In all provinces the majority of the nearly 50,000 polling stations opened on time and the Congolese took part in the elections, patiently waiting to slip their votes into the ballot box, MONUC said.( BBC)

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