Global Information2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election information
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Politics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
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| United Nations Mission |
 Democratic Republic of the Congo portal
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General elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 30 December 2018, to determine a successor to President Joseph Kabila,[1] as well as for the 500 seats of the National Assembly and the 715 elected seats of the 26 provincial assemblies.[2] Félix Tshisekedi (UDPS) won with 38.6% of the vote, defeating another opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu, and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, backed by the ruling party PPRD. Fayulu alleged that the vote was rigged against him in a deal made by Tshisekedi and outgoing President Kabila, challenging the result in the DRC's Constitutional Court. Different election observers, including those from the country's Roman Catholic Church, also cast doubt on the official result. Nonetheless on 20 January the Court rejected his appeal and declared Tshisekedi as the winner.[3] Parties supporting President Kabila won the majority of seats in the National Assembly.[4] Félix Tshisekedi was sworn in as the 5th President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 24 January 2019, making it the first peaceful transition of power in the country since it became independent from Belgium in 1960.[5]
According to the constitution, the second and final term of President Kabila expired on 20 December 2016.[6] General elections were originally scheduled for 27 November 2016, but were delayed with a promise to hold them by the end of 2017.[7] 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.[8]
Incumbent President Kabila was constitutionally ineligible for a third term.[9] 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,[10] 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.[11] 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 presidential elections.[12]
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.[13] 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 election commission.[14] On 10 January the election commission declared Félix Tshisekedi, leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress opposition party, as the winner of the election.[15] 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.[16][17] 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.[18] On 12 January it became known that parties supporting Joseph Kabila won the majority of seats in the National Assembly.[4] The Constitutional Court announced on 14 January that it would review Fayulu's appeal of the result,[19] and would make a ruling on January 19.[20] 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.[21][22]
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.[23][24] It was not until 20 May 2019 that he appointed Kabila ally and career bureaucrat Sylvestre Ilunga as his designate for Prime Minister.[25][26][27] 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).[28][29] The new Ilunga government formally took office in late August 2019.[30][31]
- ^ Uncertainty as DRC sets election date to replace Kabila Al Jazeera, 9 November 2017
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
aj1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ African support grows for Tshisekedi as DR Congo president. New Zimbabwe. Published 21 January 2019.
- ^ a b Tounsi, Samir (12 January 2019). Pro-Kabila camp wins DRC legislative poll, recount sought for presidency Archived 10 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Yahoo News.
- ^ "Felix Tshisekedi sworn in as DR Congo president". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ DR Congo election: 17 dead in anti-Kabila protests BBC News, 29 September 2016
- ^ DR Congo sets elections for December 2018 African Medias, 5 November 2017
- ^ "Présidentielle en RDC : la Ceni reporte les élections au 30 décembre 2018". Jeuneafrique.com. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ DRC crisis: aide says Kabila not standing in elections The Guardian, 7 February 2018
- ^ "Joseph Kabila says he will not run again in Congo". The Economist. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ "DR Congo opposition picks joint presidential candidate". Yahoo News. Agence France-Presse. 11 November 2018. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- ^ "Congo's Tshisekedi and Kamerhe form presidential pact". Reuters. 23 November 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ DR Congo election 'relatively well managed': SADC. Al Jazeera. Published 2 January 2019.
- ^ "DR Congo delays announcing poll result". BBC. 5 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi wins DR Congo presidential poll, says electoral commission. France 24. Published 10 January 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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telegraphwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ 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.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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n24was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ DRC coalition gov't to include 65 members. Xinhua, 30 July 2019
- ^ DR Congo names new government, save months after president inaugurated. France24, 26 August 2019
- ^ DR Congo names new government after 7-month delay. Deutsche Welle, 26 August 2019