A delay in the release of election results in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could compromise peace and destabilise the country.

That is what President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Zambian counterpart, Edgar Lungu, said on Wednesday after their meeting.

The international relations and cooperation department (Dirco) said that Zambia’s foreign minister, Joseph Malanji, who led the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC's) electoral observer mission (SEOM) in the DRC, had briefed Ramaphosa and Lungu on Wednesday. Lungu is the SADC’s chairperson for politics, defence and security co-operation.

Dirco said: "Presidents Ramaphosa and Lungu reiterated comments made by SEOM that considering the number of voters, the vast area that had to be covered and the new technology implemented by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), the elections were generally peaceful and the right to vote was protected."

Ramaphosa and Lungu called on CENI to "speedily finalise" the vote tabulation and release the results.

"The two presidents underscored that a delay can lead to suspicions and compromise peace and stability in the country," the statement read. "The two presidents also called on all the political parties and the generality of Congolese to remain calm and exercise total restraint while waiting for CENI, a constitutionally mandated authority, to release the final results."