Gore and Kerry are so role models.

AP: Loser in Congo election rejects results

KINSHASA, Congo - The loser in Congo's landmark presidential elections rejected the results Thursday, saying he would use all legal means to challenge the outcome from the war-battered Central African nation's first multiparty vote in decades.

Electoral officials announced Wednesday that President Joseph Kabila prevailed in a runoff against Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel leader who became a vice president in the postwar, national-unity government that arranged the ballot meant to end decades of strife and corrupt rule.

Bemba, in his first comments since Kabila was announced the winner, said he wouldn't accept the results. He earlier had alleged massive voting fraud and his supporters say he won.

"I regret to inform our people and the international community that I cannot accept these results, which are far from respecting the truth of the ballot boxes," Bemba said.

Bemba, who led a rebel faction in years of back-to-back wars that ended in 2002, didn't say he would take up arms again, saying he would pursue legal channels to challenge the results showing Kabila with 58 percent of the votes to Bemba's 42 percent.

"I make the commitment to use all legal avenues to ensure the will of the people is respected," he said. He didn't elaborate. A legal challenge could be taken as high as the Supreme Court.

Amid fears of renewed gunbattles between supporters of the two candidates, U.N peacekeepers patrolled the streets of the Congolese capital and riot police arrested a handful of stone-throwing protesters Thursday.

Businessmen, fearing violence, kept their shops shuttered. Few vendors were on the streets, many workers stayed home, and most schools were closed until Monday. There were no traffic jams in the usually bustling capital.

In a televised address after being declared the winner, Kabila called for calm and said police and army troops were working to ensure security. Fighting between his troops and forces loyal to Bemba killed three civilians and a soldier Saturday.

"Peace must reign in every corner of the country. Long live democracy. Long live the new Democratic Republic of Congo," said Kabila, 35, who had inherited power in 2001 when his rebel leader father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated by a bodyguard. "I ask you tonight to remain united and to live in fraternity and tolerance."

About a hundred U.N. troops in armored cars surrounded the residence of Bemba, who lives with hundreds of militiamen despite an agreement that all former rebels should be in barracks until they are integrated into the national army.