Kinshasa, DRC – Vote counting has started in the Democratic Republic of Congo‘s long-delayed election as the opposition claimed it will not accept a ruling party victory.

“I cannot see how Mr Shadary (the ruling party’s candidate) can win. I doubt anyone will have the courage to proclaim Shadary as the winner. It will be a provocation,” Martin Fayulu, leader of the opposition Lamuka coalition, told Al Jazeera on Monday.

Sunday’s vote, which has been repeatedly postponed since 2016, was marked by long delays with many polling stations not opening and voters not finding their names on the poll register.

The electoral commission (CENI) on Wednesday said at least 20 percent of the polling stations in the capital, Kinshasa, would not open because of a lack of voting machines.

More than 46 million Congolese registered to take part in the election to pick a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the mineral-rich country for 17 years. 

As many as 21 candidates contested the poll. 

Early this month, a blaze destroyed the commission’s main warehouse in Kinshasa. CENI said the fire destroyed 80 percent of the voting machines allocated for the capital, which is home to about 15 percent of the country’s electorate.

“It was deliberately disorganised. The people of the Congo are asking the truth. They are asking for their act (vote) to be reflected in the result. The result should reflect what they did on Sunday,” Fayulu added.

‘Badly organised’

Voting did not take place in three opposition strongholds, where at least 1.2 million people registered to vote.

CENI, earlier this week, said it was delaying voting in the eastern cities of Beni and Butembo in North Kivu until March next year, because of the ongoing Ebola outbreak which has claimed more than 330 lives.

CENI also said voting will take place in March next year in Yumbi in the western Bandundu province because of ethnic violence. More than 100 people have been killed in the area since the start of the month.

Crispin Landa, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera the postponement could lead to unrest.

“I think Sunday’s elections were the worst in terms of organisation and preparation comparatively to all elections this country has held so far, including those held during Joseph Mobutu,” Landa said.

“It’s in the opposition’s stronghold that complications have been observed. It was badly organised and could lead to chaos,” Landa added.

Fiston Kamanda, an adviser to Ramazan Shadary, told Al Jazeera the opposition should wait for official results to be announced and accept the outcome. 

“Fayulu does not have a chance to win an election. He doesn’t represent anything. He might win in Kinshasa, but not anywhere else. We are confident we will win. If he is not happy with the results when it is announced, he can go to court,” Kamanda said. 

Provisional results are expected on January 6, while the official results of the presidential polls are due to be announced on January 15.

Voters are also electing representatives for the national and local assemblies.

Meanwhile, the internet was heavily restricted in Kinshasa on Monday shortly after the vote tallying started. Residents in the eastern city of Goma also told Al Jazeera they were experiencing internet restrictions.

Al Jazeera contacted both internet service providers and the government and is awaiting comment.

DRC, a mineral-rich country of 80 million people in central Africa home to more than 60 percent of the world’s cobalt, has never had a peaceful transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

31 December at 13:10

The role of the goalkeeper is crucial, especially when his performance helps not to concede goals and to seal the defensive side. Below we report the ranking of the goalkeepers who have obtained the highest number of clean sheets.

With 12 inviolate nets in 20 games and only 8 goals conceded, it is Alisson Becker, Liverpool’s goalkeeper, the number one of the five main leagues in Europe.

The second place is occupied by Samir Handanovic, author of a great season with Inter. The number 1 of Nerazzurri, with 10 clean sheets out of 19 games played, is the best goalkeeper of Serie A. He only conceded 14 goals.

The third step of the podium goes to the new Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Blues took him in the summer of 2018 from Atletico Bilbao for 80 million pounds. The 1994 class player obtained 9 clean sheets in 20 games, conceding 16 goals.

Click on the gallery to see the top 10 goalkeepers in Europe

[–]andy_brixton[S] 4 points5 points6 points 52 minutes ago* (0 children)

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Methodology: *POLITICO collected  @realDonaldTrump tweets from Donald Trump’s Twitter or the Trump Twitter Archive from Jan. 1, 2018, through midnight Dec. 29, 2018.  Tweets per day were grouped via Eastern Standard Time. Retweets without comments were not included.

Our team of reporters classified each of the 2,843 tweets into four categories: Attack, Promotional, Both or Neither. Tweets that were classified as “both” were counted in the total numbers of promotional and attack tweet totals:

Promotional tweets included: Tweets promoting the Trump administration’s accomplishments; endorsing/promoting candidates; thanking members of the administration for work toward his goals; advocating for what he believes the country needs or should have; promoting TV appearances or upcoming events, photos or video clips promoting his administration.

Attacking tweets included: Tweets containing criticism of people, places or policies.

Both included: Tweets containing equal negative and positive sentiment.

Neither included: Tweets that did not attack others and ideas or promote the administration.

Other categories were classified when their contents and contained at least one of the relevant search terms. Misspellings of words and names (i.e., Hillary and Hilary) were included. We looked at various categories including:

The Economy: Tax cut, stock market, billions of dollars, tariffs, economy, jobs, taxes, NAFTA, trade

U.S.-Mexico border security: Mexico, Mexican, wall, border, drug, cartel, gang, migration, caravan, migrant, catch and release

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama: Hillary, Clinton, Barack, Obama

Fox News: @foxnews, @foxandfriends, Fox, Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham

Media and “fake news”: CNN, New York Times, the press, mainstream media, fake

Russia and Russia probe: Russia, Putin, Mueller, witch hunt, collusion, Cohen

China: China, Chinese, President Xi

North Korea: North Korea, Kim Jong Un

Republicans: Republicans, GOP

President Donald Trump has ordered a slowdown to the withdrawal of United States troops from Syria, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said.

“I think we’re in a pause situation,” the South Carolina Republican said outside the White House on Sunday.

On December 19, Trump announced the withdrawal of all the roughly 2,000 troops from war-torn Syria, with aides expecting it to take place swiftly.

Graham had been an outspoken critic of Trump’s decision, which had drawn bipartisan criticism.

He had warned that removing the troops would hurt national security by allowing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh) to resurge, betraying US-backed Kurdish fighters of the YPG armed group battling remnants ISIL, and enhancing Iran’s ability to threaten Israel.

The president had declared victory over ISIL in Syria, though pockets of fighting remain.

Since announcing the withdrawal, two senior government officials resigned, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and US envoy to forces fighting ISIL, Brett McGurk.

Critics had contended that the US withdrawal would embolden Iran and Russia, which have supported the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

National Security Adviser John Bolton was expected to travel to Israel and Turkey next week to discuss the president’s plans with the American allies.

During his appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union”, Graham previewed his arguments to Trump for reconsidering the Syria pullout.

“I’m going to ask him to sit down with his generals and reconsider how to do this. Slow this down. Make sure that we get it right. Make sure ISIS never comes back,” Graham said.

What about the Kurds?

The announcement of the Syria withdrawal had shocked legislators and American allies, including Kurds who have fought alongside the US against ISIL and face an expected assault by Turkey.

“I think we’re slowing things down in a smart way,” Graham said, adding that Trump was very aware of the plight of the Kurds.

“And, at the end of the day, if we leave the Kurds and abandon them and they get slaughtered, who’s going to help you in the future?” he told CNN. “I want to fight the war in the enemy’s backyard, not ours. That’s why we need a forward-deployed force in Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan for a while to come.”

Trump’s trip to Iraq last week was an eye-opener according to Graham and he understood the need to “finish the job” with ISIL.

“I think the president has come up with a plan with his generals that makes sense to me,” Graham said.

Graham said later on Twitter that Trump would make sure that any withdrawal from Syria “will be done in a fashion to ensure: 1) ISIS is permanently destroyed 2) Iran doesn’t fill in the back end, and 3) our Kurdish allies are protected.”

The President will make sure any withdrawal from Syria will be done in a fashion to ensure:

1) ISIS is permanently destroyed.

2) Iran doesn’t fill in the back end, and

3) our Kurdish allies are protected.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 30, 2018

Graham told reporters that Trump was committed to making sure Turkey did not clash with the Kurdish YPG forces once US troops leave Syria, and assured the NATO ally that it would have a buffer zone in the region to help protect its own interests.

Turkey views the YPG as a branch of its own Kurdish separatist movement and is threatening to launch an offensive against the group, igniting fears of significant civilian casualties.

US commanders planning the withdrawal are recommending that YPG fighters battling ISIL be allowed to keep US-supplied weapons, according to US officials.

That proposal would likely anger Turkey.

The Pentagon says it is considering plans for a “deliberate and controlled withdrawal.” One option, according to a person familiar with the discussions, is for a 120-day pullout period

Trump decided on the Syria withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ignoring the advice of top national security aides and without consulting legislators or US allies participating in anti-ISIL operations.