Joseph Kabila: 263,428 – 36.09%
Oscar Kashala: 130,463 – 17.87%
Jean-Pierre Bemba: 106,966 – 14.66%

Politics: Joseph Kabila beat Jean-Pierre Bemba in the province of Kasai-Oriental, but not by the massive margins seen in other eastern provinces. The election was more notable for the low turnout and boycott called by the regional favorite, veteran politician Etienne Tshisekedi, and his party, Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). In the capital and Tshisekedi’s base of Mbuji-Mayi, many voters stayed away, while others burned polling stations. Ultimately another Kasai native, Harvard-trained doctor Oscar Kashala, 51, who recently returned from the United States, came in second, ahead of Bemba.

Natural Resources: The two Kasais — Occidental and Oriental — are home to the Congo’s vast deposits of diamonds, an export valued at $870 million in 2005. Mbuji-Mayi, the provincial capital, is a major diamond trading center.