Congo's incumbent president leads election

Joseph Kabila, Congo's incumbent president,is reported to be holding the preliminary lead as vote counting in the country's general election continues.

BBC reported Tuesday that official results showed Kabila, 40,having46 per cent of the vote.

Etienne Tshisekedi, Kabila's closest challenger and 78-year-old opposition leader, follows with 36 per cent support.

Roughly two-thirds of the votes have been counted.

Full results were required by law to be released by midnight Tuesday local time, but an election commission spokesperson said theymay be delayed.

Matthieu Mpita said helicopters were dispatched to some remote areas of the country to collect some vote compilation sheets. He said a communications error prevented thevote tallies from being transmitted tothe central compilation centre.

The prospect of the outbreak ofviolence left the country tense as the final votes were being counted

"We're worried," said Bishop Nicolas Djomo, president of the Catholic bishop's conference of Congo. "The image that comes to mind is of a high-speed train that is barrelling straight toward a wall. We're under the impression that no one is putting on the brakes."

The country's five mobile phone providers agreed to shut down text messaging services after some inflammatory messages were sent out calling for violence.

In addition, guests cleared out of hotels, and residents stocked up on food supplies. Air France suspended a midweek flight.

Many people took boats from the country's capital, Kinshasa, across a five-kilometre-wide river to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, to avoid possible unrest.

Violence broke out during the voting period, which was plagued by reported irregularities, including several cases of ballot stuffing.