Direct elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo occur for the Presidency, National Assembly, and provincial assemblies. The Senate, the upper house of the legislature, is 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), the main opposing 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.
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.
François-Joseph Mobutu Nzanga Ngbangawe 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 under President Joseph Kabila from 2007 to 2011, initially as Minister of State for Agriculture and subsequently as Deputy Prime Minister for Basic Social Needs. He was dismissed from the government in March 2011. In 2008, he founded the Union of Mobutist Democrats as the successor to his father's Popular Movement of the Revolution and has led the party since.
Moïse Katumbi Chapwe is a Congolese businessman and politician. 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 Independent National Electoral Commission is the body that runs elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy, also known as the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is a political party and a former rebel group that operated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was supported by the government of Rwanda, and was a major armed faction in the Second Congo War (1998-2003). It became a social liberal political party in 2003.
Senate elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 14 March 2019 to elect the 108 Senators. Former DRC President Joseph Kabila, who stepped down from office in January 2019 following the inauguration of the recently elected Félix Tshisekedi, has also joined the upper house of the legislature as a senator for life, for a total of 109 seats.
Matata Ponyo Mapon is a Congolese political figure who was Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 18 April 2012 to 17 November 2016. Previously he served as Minister of Finance from 21 February 2010 to 12 April 2012; as Prime Minister, he retained responsibility for the finance portfolio. He currently serves as Senator for Maniema.
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 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. Parties supporting President Kabila won the majority of seats in the National Assembly. 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.
Paul Bolya or Bolya Ifekwa Lobok'ete was a Congolese politician and leader of a faction in the nationalist movement in the Belgian Congo before independence.
Samy Badibanga Ntita is a Congolese politician who was Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from November 2016 to May 2017. He was also on the ballot for the 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election as a presidential candidate.
Yvon Kimpiobi or Kimpiob-Ninafiding Nki-Ekundi was a Congolese politician who served twice as the President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Henri-Thomas Lokondo Yoka was a Congolese politician who served as a deputy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo National Assembly from 2011 until his death in 2021. He previously held office as Deputy Minister of Public Works from 1993 until 1994 and Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations from 1996 until 1997. In the 2000s he formed his own party, the Union Congolaise pour la Liberté.
Léonard She Okitundu Lundula is a Congolese diplomat who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and one of the Vice Prime Ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since December 2016 until March 2019. He has formerly held a number of other government offices in the DRC and Zaïre, being the Foreign Minister before (2000–2003), a Senator, and also chief of staff of President Joseph Kabila's administration.
Gubernatorial elections took place in 20 out of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 26 March 2016. The elections were the first to take place since the Congolese government has fragmented the former 11 provinces into 26 as mandated by the DRC constitution, though by the time elections occurred only 21 provinces had completed the reform process. In most of the provinces, the elected governors are members or affiliates of the Alliance of the Presidential Majority.
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. Tshisekedi was the UDPS party's candidate for president in the December 2018 general election, which he was awarded, despite accusations of irregularities from several election monitoring organisations and other opposition parties. The Constitutional Court of the DRC upheld his victory after another opposition politician, Martin Fayulu, challenged the result, but Tshisekedi has been accused of making a deal with his predecessor, Joseph Kabila. The election marked the first peaceful transition of power since the state became independent from Belgium in 1960.
Events in the year 2019 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Jeanine Mabunda is a Congolese lawyer and politician who in 2019 became the first woman elected to lead the Democratic Republic of the Congo's National Assembly. She was impeached on December 10, 2020, through a democratic vote by the National Assembly with 281 votes.
Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba is a Congolese politician who was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 2019, formally establishing his government in August 2019. He has had a long political career going back to the 1970s, having held a number of ministerial cabinet posts, and was previously a professor at the University of Kinshasa since 1979. Ilunga has also been the secretary general of Congo's national railway company. He has a reputation as an experienced public servant and technocrat, as well as an ally of former President Joseph Kabila.
