Riot police in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), fired into the air and used tear gas to disperse demonstrators calling for transparency in the country's general elections, scheduled for 30 July.

One demonstrator lost his hand when a tear-gas canister exploded, while a parliamentary candidate was admitted to hospital suffering from tear-gas inhalation after the demonstration on Tuesday.

"We want everyone included in the elections, including veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi," said Roger Lumbala, a presidential candidate and leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la démocratie-national (RCD-N), who was among the demonstrators.

Tshisekedi is head of the Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social party (UDPS), which is boycotting the elections.

"We do not want to have elections with irregularities paving the way for the fraudulent victory of [President Joseph] Kabila," Lumbala said.

Four other presidential candidates took part in the demonstration held to demand free and fair elections. It was called in response to reports that the Independent Electoral Commission had printed millions of extra ballots.

On 4 July, the president of the electoral commission, Apollinaire Malumalu, said the extra ballots constituted strategic stock to allow civil servants and reporters to vote wherever they might be during the elections.

Malumalu made the remark after 19 of the 33 presidential candidates called for the suspension of the election campaigns to allow for what they termed as "transparency" in the elections.

At least 25 million people are registered to vote in the elections in which 33 candidates are contesting the presidency and at least 9,000 candidates are competing for seats in the country's 500-member parliament.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]