General elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 30 December 2018 to determine a successor to outgoing president Joseph Kabila,Uncertainty as DRC sets election date to replace Kabila Al Jazeera, 9 November 2017 as well as for the 500 seats of the National Assembly and the 715 elected seats of the 26 provincial assemblies. Félix Tshisekedi of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress won the presidency with 38.6% of the vote, defeating Martin Fayulu of the Dynamic of the Opposition and independent candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. Fayulu alleged that the vote was rigged against him by Tshisekedi and Kabila, challenging the result in the Constitutional Court. Election observers, including the Catholic Church, also cast doubt on the official result. Nonetheless, on 20 January the Court declared Tshisekedi the winner.African support grows for Tshisekedi as DR Congo president. New Zimbabwe. Published 21 January 2019. Parties supporting Kabila won the majority of seats in the National Assembly. Tshisekedi was sworn in as the fifth president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 24 January 2019, the first peaceful transition of power in the country since its independence from Belgium in 1960.
According to the constitution, the second and final term of President Kabila expired on 20 December 2016.DR Congo election: 17 dead in anti-Kabila protests BBC News, 29 September 2016 General elections were originally scheduled for 27 November 2016, but were delayed with a promise to hold them by the end of 2017.DR Congo sets elections for December 2018 African Medias, 5 November 2017 This promise was subsequently broken, but after both international and internal pressure the elections were finally scheduled for 23 December 2018. They were, however, postponed for a week on 30 December 2018 due to a fire in the electoral commission's warehouse in Kinshasa destroying 8,000 electronic voting machines.
Incumbent President Kabila was constitutionally ineligible for a third term.DRC crisis: aide says Kabila not standing in elections The Guardian, 7 February 2018 He and his party, the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, supported the candidacy of Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the former Minister of the Interior, who formally ran as an independent candidate. In opposition to Shadary's candidacy, seven opposition leaders, including Jean-Pierre Bemba and Moïse Katumbi, nominated Martin Fayulu as their candidate for president. However, Félix Tshisekedi and Vital Kamerhe soon after broke this agreement and agreed that Tshisekedi should run for president while Kamerhe would serve as his campaign manager and become prime minister if he won. They also agreed that Tshisekedi and his party will back a candidate from Kamerhe's Union for the Congolese Nation in the 2023 general election.
Preliminary results were scheduled to be announced on 6 January 2019, with the final result on 15 January and the inauguration of the next president on 18 January.DR Congo election 'relatively well managed': SADC. Al Jazeera. Published 2 January 2019. However, it was later announced on 5 January that the publication of preliminary results would be delayed, as less than half of the votes have been obtained by the electoral commission. On 10 January the commission declared Félix Tshisekedi, leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress opposition party, the winner of the election.Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi wins DR Congo presidential poll, says electoral commission. France 24. Published 10 January 2019. Martin Fayulu, who came in second, has claimed that the election was rigged and that he will challenge the result in the DRC's Constitutional Court. The country's influential Roman Catholic Church, which deployed 40,000 election monitors, has also said the official result does not align with its observations, which place Fayulu as the winner.DR Congo presidential election: Church questions results. BBC. Published 10 January 2019. On 12 January it became known that parties supporting Joseph Kabila won the majority of seats in the National Assembly.Tounsi, Samir (12 January 2019). Pro-Kabila camp wins DRC legislative poll, recount sought for presidency . Yahoo News. The Constitutional Court announced on 14 January that it would review Fayulu's appeal of the result, and would make a ruling on 19 January. That day, the Constitutional Court rejected Fayulu's challenge of the election results and upheld Tshisekedi's victory. Fayulu claimed to be the "legitimate" president and called for protests.The Latest: Congo runner-up: Don't recognize Tshisekedi. ABC News. Published 19 January 2019.DR Congo top court upholds Tshisekedi presidential election win. France24. Published 19 January 2019.
While Tshisekedi had won the election, parties aligned with Kabila secured a majority in the National Assembly and later in the Senate during the March 2019 Senate election. Because of this Tshisekedi's ability to implement policies or appoint a new Prime Minister were limited, and while negotiations have been ongoing to form a new government the President has been working with the former cabinet of Kabila. It was not until 20 May 2019 that he appointed Kabila ally and career bureaucrat Sylvestre Ilunga as his designate for prime minister. The parliamentary majority faction and President Tshisekedi came to an agreement on forming a new government by 27 July 2019, choosing the 65 members of the new cabinet. Out of those, 42 posts went to the Kabila-aligned Common Front for Congo candidates, while 23 went to the Heading for Change coalition (Tshisekedi's alliance).DRC coalition gov't to include 65 members. Xinhua, 30 July 2019 The new Ilunga government formally took office in late August 2019.DR Congo names new government, save months after president inaugurated. France24, 26 August 2019DR Congo names new government after 7-month delay. Deutsche Welle, 26 August 2019
Background
Glissement
2014 From 2014, the question of whether Kabila would run for a third term and if elections were even going to be held, were the biggest political issues in the country. From 2015, this process of the government attempting to delay elections in order to hold on to power became known as glissement (sliding).
While the Constitution explicitly limited the presidency to two terms and prohibited any amendments to extend this limit, discussions persisted throughout the year about various ways to prolong Kabila's rule, including potential constitutional revisions. Supporters and opponents of a third term were found within both the government and the opposition. Among the most vocal proponents of an extension were Evariste Boshab, the head of Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), Monseigneur Marini Bodho, head of the Church of Christ in the Congo, and Minister of Transport and Channels of Communication Kin-Kiey Mulumba. While Senate President Léon Kengo wa Dondo and the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (CENCO) openly opposed revisions to the constitution. Kabila himself never took a position but the reorganization in the military to allow for closer personal control over the armed forces, as well as the establishment of a government of national cohesion that stregenthened his Alliance of the Presidential Majority (AMP) coalition, while also giving the political opposition some high-ranking positions in an attempt to statify them, suggested he supported it, especially since all key positions related to the question of a third term for Kabila were filled by loyalists.
In response to suggested revisions, the opposition launched a coalition under the slogan "Don't touch my constitution", organizing demonstration in Kinshasa that included the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) and the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) on 4 August 2014. Following the demonstrations, UNC General Secretary Jean-Bertrand Ewanga was arrested and sentenced to one year in prison for contempt of state institutions. The opposition expanded in September when approximately 650 Congolese NGOs signed a declaration against constitutional amendments, prompting further street protests.
Tensions escalated after the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) released the first part of its electoral calendar on 26 May, which lacked any mention of legislative and presidential elections, only local. Although the opposition had long urged the government to fulfill its 2006 promise of organizing local elections, they feared that holding them in 2015 would become an excuse to delay the national elections in 2016 due to financial and logistical challenges.
Another controversy arose in November with the creation of the National Population Identification Office (ONIP), tasked with conducting a national census, a measure previously recommended in 2013. ONIP director Adolphe Lumanu estimated that the census would take one year and cost approximately $500 million, with Export–Import Bank of China financing the effort. The opposition was skeptical of this, arguing that logistical and financial hurdles could prolong the process for years, which they feared would be used as another justification to prolong the election process.
Despite mounting concerns, Kabila sought to reassure critics and international partners, stating on 15 December that elections would proceed as planned for 27 November 2016 In January 2015, attempts to tie voter registration updates for the 2016 elections to a national census or other demographic data in an electoral bill were shot down by members of the AMP. However, additions that were made by the Senate to make explicit reference to the constitutional time frame as binding were also removed, thereby removing a stipulation that Kabila would have to leave office in 2016.
2015 Throughout 2015, speculation over election delays and Kabila's potential third term continued to dominate politics, causing mass protests in Kinshasa and other cities. While government spokesman Lambert Mende Omalanga repeatedly assured the public that Kabila would respect the Constitution, AMP spokesman André Alain Atundu stated on 31 October that holding credible elections under the current conditions was impossible and could be delayed by up to four years. The government quickly distanced itself from this claim but did not dismiss the need for a postponement. On 16 February, the CENI set national elections for 27 November 2016, with provincial and municipal elections scheduled for October 2015 and various local elections throughout 2016.
On 5 March, some AMP members issued an open letter urging Kabila to step down and expressing concerns over potential election delays. In mid-September, seven party leaders who had written the letter broke away from the AMP and formed a new opposition group known as the G7, which controlled around 80 seats in the National Assembly, roughly a third of AMP's majority. On 14 September, the G7 published a second letter, accusing Kabila of deliberately sowing confusion to extend his rule. Shortly after, the seven parties were expelled from the AMP, and by late September, their ministers were dismissed from government. The G7 quickly became a key opposition force, announcing in October that it considered Moïse Katumbi, former governor of Katanga and, until recently, a close Kabila ally before his resignation from the PPRD on 29 September, a potential opposition presidential candidate. Just before the end of Katumbi's term. Kabila's special advisor for good governance and the fight against corruption, Luzolo Bambi Lessa, requested an investigation into alleged fraud involving Katumbi and 19 other officials. Human rights activists denounced the move as politically motivated, warning of corruption trials being used as a tool against political opponents.