Volatile DR Congo votes after two-year delay

After two years of delays, crackdowns and political turmoil, the Democratic Republic of Congo voted Sunday in presidential elections that will determine the future of Africa's notoriously unstable giant.

Facing fears of bloodshed and a test of integrity, polling day appeared to be free from violence but frustration over problems and controversial voting machines ran deep.

The vote gives the DRC the chance of its first peaceful transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

Analysts, though, say the threat of upheaval is great, given organisational hitches and suspicion of President Joseph Kabila, who refused to quit in 2016 after his two-term limit expired.

The election's credibility has been strained by repeated delays, fears of chaos on polling day and accusations that electronic voting machines would help to rig the result.

On election eve, talks aimed at averting violence after the vote broke down. Opposition frontrunners Martin Fayulu and Felix Tshisekedi refused to sign a proposed code of conduct with Kabila's preferred successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. They accused officials with the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) of thwarting changes to the text.

The UN, US and Europe have appealed for the elections to be free, fair and peaceful -- a call echoed by the presidents of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and the neighbouring Republic of Congo.

And in the Vatican, Pope Francis led thousands of worshippers in St. Peter's Square on Sunday in prayers for "normal and peaceful" elections.

Candidates posed for the cameras as they went to cast their ballot. "You saw how I campaigned, everything that happened. I'll be elected, I'll be president from tonight." Shadary told Actualite.cd news site, adding: "People must vote. We have to avoid violence." Meanwhile Tshisekedi predicted: "Victory is ours."