One of the main opposition presidential candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, has called for calm a day after the electoral commission delayed the poll for a week.

The vote had been scheduled for Sunday, but is now going to take place on 30 December because of a delay in deploying voting materials to polling sites.

The electoral commission's announcement came a week after thousands of electronic voting machines were destroyed in a fire in the capital, Kinshasa.

It said it was still waiting for four million ballot papers to arrive from South Korea, but many in the country remain suspicious about the commission's motives.

President Joseph Kabila is stepping down after the election, which has already been delayed by two years.

Mr Tshisekedi told his hundreds of supporters, gathered outside the UDPS party headquarters in Kinshasa, to be patient.

He said he intended to continue campaigning until 28 December.