Predictably, Monday's Kinshasa press concentrates on elections held Sunday throughout the DR Congo's territory.

In a front-page story titled "The Congolese cast their ballots at last," L'Observateur reports that after more than 40 years, "over 24 million Congolese voters wet to the polls on Sunday". Recalling that elections are held to decide among candidates, L'Observateur hopes that "the ballot winners' victory will be the victory of everyone (...) while the losers will have to hold their ambitions in abeyance, hoping to become maybe the winners of tomorrow".

For now, the Congolese need "to be thanked for their participation in those elections and their attitude of patriotic mutual understanding and tolerance," L'Observateur concludes.

In its editorial piece titled "Challenge met!", La Référence Plus notes that "the Congolese voters gave the world a lesson in discipline and maturity." "The success of [voting] operations is owed primarily the Congolese people having shown patience," it says.

Striking a similar note, Le Potentiel says the smooth running of the polls is owed "primarily to the Congolese people who demonstrated their desire to go to the ballot box". The people's massive participation in the elections indicated "their political ability to take charge of themselves and engage in the process of bringing change in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," it says.

"The Congolese people went to the polls with dignity," according to Le Potentiel, which sees this as a message "for all those who had tried to hold [the people] hostage in a bid to maintain the old order, that is, the crisis of legitimacy".

Now, it is for "the organisers to support this momentum for transparency until the proclamation of the final results," Le Potentiel hopes. "Now it is up to the Independent Electoral Commission and the national and international observers, as well as the winning and losing candidates to fulfil their part of the contract with dignity," Le Potentiel expects.

This does not mean everything was perfect on Election Day. According to Le Palmarès, "40 polling stations and 134 electoral kits were burned across the country, notably in Mbuji-Mayi and Mwene-Ditu." "A MONUC [UN Mission in the DRC] delegation was held hostage in Idiofa [Bandundu province], while (...) the RCD-KML office in Mbuji-Mayi [Eastern Kasai province] was torched," Le Palmarès reports.

There were "two death cases in Mweka, in Western Kasai province," reports Le Phare, adding that "several confused electors were unable to vote (...) [because] some voting centres had been relocated [and some] names were [mistakenly] listed as having already voted".

What's more, there were "in the vicinity of [some] polling stations, members of the PPRD [pro-presidential party] trying to bribe voters with sums of money ranging from 10 to 220 $ or so," according to La Tempête des Tropiques.

Le Potentiel, which interviewed some voters, reports that "many of them abstaining from giving any names but said they had voted for a president who would unify" the nation.

L'Avenir expects incumbent president Joseph Kabila to be "the winner in the country's interior, most notably in the eastern parts where he takes nearly all the votes". In Kinshasa, Mr Kabila "is one the two leading runners, the other being Jean-Pierre Bemba," L'Avenir writes.

But, according to La Tempête des Tropiques, Joseph Kabila will not achieve « 50% of the votes in the first round". "Pierre Pay-Pay, Oscar Kashala, Jean-Pierre Bemba (..) will prevent Joseph Kabila Kabange from decisively winning the first round," La Tempête des Tropiques explains. If the outgoing president makes it to the second round, says the paper, "it is quite possible the best losers of the first round will form a coalition against Kabila".

In case there is a second round of the presidential election, this will take place on 29 October 2006, along with provincial assembly elections, La Référence Plus reports.