Millions of Congolese cast ballots Sunday in the first multi-party parliamentary and presidential elections since the African country won independence from Belgium 46 years ago.

About 25 million people were registered to cast ballots for 33 presidential, 9,000 national legislative and 10,000 provincial assembly candidates.

A supporter in Rutshuru shows his backing for Joseph Kabila.
(CBC/David McGuffin)

About 60,000 Congolese police guarded the 50,000 polling stations set up across the country, which has been wracked by decades of civil war and despotic rule.

Joining them in the third largest country in Africa were about 17,000 United Nations peacekeepers and another 1,000 troops from Europe.

At a cost of $460 million US, it was the most expensive UN mission of its kind ever mounted.

Congolese voters show their voting cards at a polling station in Kinshasa.
(Jerome Delay/Associated Press)

While some Congolese said they encountered difficulty in the registration process, the election proceedings ran smoothly.

Former Canadian prime minister Joe Clark headed up the Carter centre's monitoring team. He said while these elections may not be perfect, they are an important and historic first step.

"By and large, so far, things are going quite well," he told CBC reporter David McGuffin. "There's a genuine sense that this is a big hope, a great opportunity for the Democratic Republic of Congo and people want to take advantage of that."

The election is the culmination of a three-year process that ended Congo's last war. It raged from 1998 until 2003, killing about four million people, and involving six neighbouring countries.

Vote counting began after polls closed Sunday evening, but final results were not expected for about three weeks. Results will be tabulated by hand and transported to Kinshasa, the capital, by plane, truck and boat.

Campaign terrain difficult

It has been difficult for all but a few presidential candidates to travel over such a vast country, which is roughly the size of western Europe.

Because of years of neglect, its roads are in a shambles, leaving flying as the only option to effectively campaign. Some polling booths are deep in the bush, accessible only by footpaths.

One of the few candidates with the resources to criss-cross the country is Joseph Kabila, who became president after the assassination of his father in January 2001.

Laurent Kabila had ousted the corrupt, 32-year dictator Mobutu Sese Seko four years earlier in a Rwandan-backed rebel advance across the country.

Kabila, widely seen as the frontrunner, has promised to build new highways and erect universities in the capital of each province.

With a population of 58 million, Congo is one of the world's poorest nations. Despite an abundance of natural resources, aid groups have reported that about 1,000 people die every day from strife-induced hunger and disease.

Kabila's main challenger is former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, whose final campaign rally ended in bloodshed as his supporters hurled stones, shot at police and set fire to a church.

In the event that no presidential candidate earns a majority, a second vote between the top two finishers will follow, likely in September.

With files from the Associated Press