DR Congo's Tshisekedi: Son, Heir And President-elect

Kinshasa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2019 ) :Felix Tshisekedi, whose victory in the DR Congo's presidential election was confirmed by the country's top court on Sunday, is the son of a veteran opposition leader but has never held high office or even a managerial role.

Known to friends as "Fatshi", the portly 55-year-old's win long eluded his late father, who spent 35 years leading the opposition but did not live to take office.

Tshisekedi heads the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), DR Congo's oldest and largest opposition party which was founded and led by his father Etienne.

After his father died in February 2017, Tshisekedi took up the reins.

And in less than two years, he appears to have hit the jackpot, after being named the surprise victor in December's historic vote to succeed President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the volatile, poverty-stricken nation with an iron fist since 2001.

His first words after the provisional results were announced by election commission earlier this month were a tribute to Kabila.

"Today we should no longer see him as an adversary, but rather as a partner in the democratic change in our country," he told crowds of triumphant supporters.

But it was not without controversy, with opposition rival Martin Fayulu, who came a close second, denouncing the result as an "electoral coup".

On Sunday, he called for the international community to reject the Consitutional Court's confirmationof the results.