Presidential elections were held in the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

on 21 March 2021. Incumbent president

Denis Sassou Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer. He became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as p ...

was re-elected with 88% of the vote. His main opponent,

Guy Brice Parfait Kolélas Guy Brice Parfait Kolélas (6 August 1959Roger Ngombé"Portrait de Guy Brice Parfait Kolélas, nouveau ministre de la Pêche maritime et continentale, chargé de l'aquaculture" '' Les Dépêches de Brazzaville'', 7 January 2008 . – 22 March 2021 ...

, died a day after the elections.

Electoral system

The

President of the Republic of the Congo This is a list of presidents of the Republic of the Congo since the formation of the post of president in 1960, to the present day. A total of six people have served as President of the Republic of the Congo (not counting one acting/interim h ...

is elected for a five-year term, with the possibility of a maximum of two reelections. In the election, only the candidate who obtains an absolute majority of valid votes is elected. If no candidate reaches that majority, the two candidates with the highest votes face a

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

twenty-one days after the results are announced by the Constitutional Court.

Conduct

Telecommunications were cut off during election day at a national level, mirroring events from the 2016 elections, a situation that was condemned by international organizations such as the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

Results

, the opposition presidential candidate, died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on a plane en route to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

for treatment, on the afternoon of the election. Sassou Ngessou was reelected with 88.4% of the vote.

References

Congo

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

Congo Presidential elections in the Republic of the Congo {{Africa-election-stub