Word: kasavubu
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...first voters began to line up in front of the city's polling stations. A few hours later, when President Joseph Kasavubu was due to cast his ballot, observers from eleven African nations were on hand to applaud, television crews had set up their cameras, and journalists from all over the world were scurrying from precinct to precinct to record the phenomenon of an orderly Congo. The whole thing seemed almost too good to be true...
...sense, Tshombe is running alone. Except for President Joseph Kasavubu, who would hardly exchange the presidency for the insecure job of Premier, no other Congolese politician can project himself as a national figure. Two moderate regional leaders, Justin Bomboko and Elder Statesman Jean Bolikango, might like a crack at the premiership, but experts believe neither has enough votes to come close, and both will probably join a post-election coalition government with Tshombe...
Itinerant Polling. Still, Tshombe is taking no chances. The voting begins in heavily pro-Tshombe Elisabethville, then moves to Leopoldville, where both Kasavubu and Tshombe are popular, only reaches the rebel-infested northeastern Congo in the middle of April. By then, Tshombe hopes he will have piled up so many votes elsewhere that the northeastern tribes will go along...
Tshombe certainly tied himself very closely to these Belgian interests. Years before independence, when Lumumba, Kasavubu and other Congolese political leaders were organizing nationalist groups, Tshombe spent most of his time cultivating good relationships with the Belgians. In January, 1960, when Tshombe and other Congolese leaders attended the Brussels conference that decided on Congolese independence, even the Belgian press criticized Tshombe sharply for his involvement with unsavory financial interests...
Tshombe returned to the Congo in late June. Almost immediately, he became Prime Minister of the country under a new constitution. Kasavubu remained as president. Even before Tshombe took office, he began trying to consolidate support. He won a promise of unconditional support from Andre Lubaya ,an important member of the National Liberation Committee, a group of leftist exiles which has partially guided and supported the revolutionary forces. Tshombe got Adoula to promise the prompt release of Antoine Gizenga, Lumumba's former lieutenant...