Results from around Lubumbashi had been arriving at the CENI for several days, and the laborious task of collating results, verifying them and compiling them for Kinshasa was one I did not envy.
The centre was ill-prepared for the volume of material it would receive, not aided by the two burned out shells of the pick-ups attacked on voting day that sat in the courtyard for the first couple of days.
Sacks of ballots were stacked outside, under the cover of tarpaulin as rain soaked the ground. Days later, there would still be papers hanging out to dry.
Election observers from the European Union and the Carter Centre had complained of not being free to question election officials on their work, something they said was vital to their monitoring. As they voiced their complaints, access was increased. I was certainly never prevented from doing my work.