Congo votes freely after 40 yrs

While vote counting began after polls closed in the evening, final results are not expected for weeks.

Some 25 million registered voters were selecting the 500-member legislature to replace a national-unity administration arranged under peace accords that officially ended a 1998-2002 war.

President Joseph Kabila, now 35, became one of the world8217;s youngest leaders in 2001 when he inherited power after the assassination of his father, Laurent, who ousted the corrupt, 32-year dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko four years earlier in a Rwandan-backed rebel advance across the country.

Kabila is considered among the front-runners listed on a seven-page ballot, which has 33 candidates for president. The winner8217;s administration will replace the transitional government, which includes four vice presidents, among them another top presidential contender, former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba.