South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that the election campaigns in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had gone very well and the South African government was looking forward to the outcome of the polls in that country.

The elections held Sunday, which were the first democratic elections held in this Central Africa giant in more than four decades, could express the will of the people in that country, said the president while briefing the media in Pretoria after a three-day Cabinet lekgotla.

He acknowledged people had been killed in the run-up to the election, adding: "It is true that some people were killed... [ but] I've been saying that the number of people who were killed in this country ahead of the 1994 elections was much, much more than has happened in the Congo."

"This suggests to us that the elections that are taking place today will result in the proper reflection of the will of the people of the [DRC]," Mbeki said.

A "large contingent" of South Africans was helping with the DRC election, including staffing the IT centers where the results were counted, he said.

Source: Xinhua