Martin Madidi Fayulu (born 21 November 1956) is a businessman and lawmaker from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. He is the leader of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development party. On 11 November 2018, he was chosen by seven opposition leaders to be their joint presidential candidate in the

2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election 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 as ...

. However, within 24 hours, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the eventual winner of the 2018 presidential election, and

Vital Kamerhe Vital Kamerhe (born 4 March 1959) is a Congolese politician who is the chief of staff of President Félix Tshisekedi and leader of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) opposition party. Previously he was the President of the National Assembl ...

, the other oppositional candidate, rescinded their endorsement of his candidacy and formed their own pact with Tshisekedi as candidate.

Biography

Born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, then Léopoldville, Martin Fayulu is a former

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

executive, having worked with the oil company from 1984 until 2003. He served as the company's director-general in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

as his last post. His involvement in politics began in 1991 when he attended the Sovereign National Conference, which brought together delegates from different regions and organizations to campaign for a multi-party democracy.

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

, the totalitarian President of

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

(as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was then called), allowed the conference to take place but rejected its conclusions. Fayulu did not enter politics full time until 2006, after Mobutu and his dictatorship were gone. In the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and 2011 general elections, he was elected as an MP to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. In 2009 he established the Commitment for Citizenship and Development party, which has three MPs, including Fayulu. Félix Tshisekedi was declared the winner of the December 2018 election, despite election observers' belief that Fayulu had won the vote, in what was seen by Fayulu and his supporters as a deal between Tshisekedi and outgoing President Joseph Kabila.The Latest: Opposition candidate Fayulu denounces results
Associated Press. Published 10 January 2019. Fayulu challenged the result in the DRC's

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

, which has been criticised for being staffed primarily by Kabila appointees, and thus by late January 2019 the court ruled that Tshisekedi was the rightful winner and he was sworn in as President.The Latest: Congo runner-up: Don't recognize Tshisekedi
ABC News, 19 January 2019DR Congo top court upholds Tshisekedi presidential election win
France24, 19 January 2019 He has continued to remain active in politics since the election, continuing to claim that he was the rightful winner. In late July 2019, he met in Lubumbashi with members of the opposition, including former

Katanga Province Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika Province, Tanganyika, Hau ...

governor

Moïse Katumbi Moïse Katumbi Chapwe (; born 28 December 1964) 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 t ...

, former Prime Minister

Adolphe Muzito Adolphe Muzito (born 12 February 1957"DR Congo presiden ...

, and a representative of former rebel leader

Jean-Pierre Bemba Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (born 4 November 1962) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was one of four Vice-Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democrat ...

. They discussed the future of the opposition and democracy in the DRC.DR Congo: Opposition leaders meet in Lubumbashi
Africa News, 31 July 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fayulu, Martin 1956 births Candidates for President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo businesspeople ExxonMobil people Living people Members of the National Assembly (Democratic Republic of the Congo) People from Kinshasa