Politics of the Democratic Republic of Congo take place in the framework of a republic in transition from a civil war to a semi-presidential republic.
Telecommunications in the Democratic Republic of the Congo include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Joseph Kabila Kabange is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in the context of the Second Congo War. He was allowed to remain in power after the 2003 Pretoria Accord ended the war as the president of the country's new transitional government. He was elected as president in 2006 and re-elected in 2011 for a second term. Since stepping down after the 2018 election, Kabila, as a former president, serves as a senator for life.
Direct elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo occur for the Presidency, National Assembly, and provincial assemblies. The Senate, and provincial governors are elected indirectly by members of the provincial assemblies.
Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), formerly the main opposition political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A long-time opposition leader, he served as Prime Minister of the country on three brief occasions: in 1991, 1992–1993, and 1997. He was also the father of the current President, Felix Tshisekedi.
The Movement for the Liberation of the Congo is a political party in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Formerly a rebel group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo that fought the government throughout the Second Congo War, it subsequently took part in the transitional government and is one of the main opposition parties.
The Union for Democracy and Social Progress is a major political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Founded in 1982, amid the one-party rule of Mobutu Sese Seko and his Popular Movement of the Revolution, it is the country's oldest existing party. During the presidency of Joseph Kabila, it was the largest opposition party in the country. The party identifies as social democratic.
Antoine Gizenga was a Congolese (DRC) politician who was the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 30 December 2006 to 10 October 2008. He was the Secretary-General of the Unified Lumumbist Party.
Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). After he served as Deputy Prime Minister of Defense 2023 to 2024, he was moved to the Deputy Prime Minister of Transportation. He was previously one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 17 July 2003 to December 2006. He led the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), a rebel group turned political party. He received the second-highest number of votes in the 2006 presidential election. In January 2007, he was elected to the Senate.
Nzanga Mobutu is a Congolese politician. A son of the long-time President Mobutu Sese Seko, he served in the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2007 to 2011, initially as Minister of State for Agriculture and subsequently as Deputy Prime Minister for Basic Social Needs and Deputy Prime Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security. He received the fourth-highest number of votes in the 2006 presidential election. In 2007, Nzanga founded the Union of Mobutist Democrats as the successor to his father's Popular Movement of the Revolution and has led the party since.
Vital Kamerhe Lwa Kanyiginyi Nkingi is a Congolese politician, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Economy and the leader of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) party. He served as the President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2006 to 2009. After resigning from that office, he went into the opposition and founded the UNC. He ran in the 2011 presidential election. He supported Félix Tshisekedi as a coalition partner in the 2018 presidential election, and became chief of staff when Tshisekedi took office.
Moïse Katumbi Chapwe is a Congolese businessman and politician. He leads the Together for the Republic party. He was Governor of Katanga Province, located in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 2007 to September 2015. He was a member of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) until September 2015. He has been described by The Economist as "probably the second most powerful man in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the president, Joseph Kabila". Jeune Afrique named him "African of the Year" in 2015.
The CongoleseRepublican Guard of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as the Special Presidential Security Group, is a praetorian guard unit maintained by and tasked to protect the Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi. Congolese military officials state that the Republican Guard (GR) is an independent branch and not the responsibility of FARDC, but the Head of State. Apart from Article 140 of the Law on the Army and Defence, no legal stipulation on the DRC's Armed Forces makes provision for the GR as a distinct unit within the national army. In February 2005, President Joseph Kabila passed a decree which appointed the GR's commanding officer and 'repealed any previous provisions contrary' to that decree. The GR is more than 10,000 strong, and formerly consisted of three brigades, the 10th, at Kinshasa, the 15th, and the 16th, at Lubumbashi. It has better working conditions and is paid regularly, but still commits numerous crimes near their bases, including against United Nations officials.
Mass media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are nationally and internationally state-owned and operated.
Médard Mulangala Lwakabwanga is a politician from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is President of the Union for a Republican Majority and a leader of the Union Sacree pour l’Alternance, an umbrella grouping of opposition parliamentary parties and community groups that forms the third-largest political structure within the opposition and Rapporteur of the National Assembly's Committee on Economics and Finance, making him the opposition's lead spokesman on budgetary, economic and investment policy in the Republic.
Le Potentiel is a Democratic Republic of the Congo daily newspaper published by award-winning journalist Modeste Mutinga. The Committee to Protect Journalists described it as "the only independent daily newspaper in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo". According to Mutinga, the paper has "an agenda" of promoting economic development and democracy.
Pierre Lumbi Okongo was a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Union for the Congolese Nation is a political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was founded in 2010 by Vital Kamerhe, who was at the time a close ally of the former president Joseph Kabila. Kamerhe had previously served as the Chief of Staff to Kabila and as the Speaker of the National Assembly.
General elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 30 December 2018, to determine a successor to President Joseph Kabila, as well as for the 500 seats of the National Assembly and the 715 elected seats of the 26 provincial assemblies. Félix Tshisekedi (UDPS) won the presidency with 38.6% of the vote, defeating Martin Fayulu and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary (PPRD). 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. Parties supporting Kabila won the majority of seats in the National Assembly. Tshisekedi was sworn in as the 5th 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.
Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo is a Congolese politician who has been the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 24 January 2019. He is the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the DRC's oldest and largest party, succeeding his late father Étienne Tshisekedi in that role, a three-time Prime Minister of Zaire and opposition leader during the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko.
