A constitutional referendum was held in the Republic of the Congo on 20 January 2002, with results showed over 87% voted in favour with a voter turnout of 77.5%.

Background

The proposed new constitution would make the country a

presidential republic A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separation ...

. It had been written in 2001 and approved by a

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council of Libya ( ar, المجلس الوطني الإنتقالي '), sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, was the ''de facto'' government of Libya for a period during and after the Libyan Civil War ...

in 2002 before being put to a referendum. Changes from the old constitution increased presidential terms to seven years and abolished the post of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. It established a bicameral legislature and instituted several requirements in order to be able to stand for President. The government described the referendum as paving the way for elections and welcomed the results. However the opposition urged that voters boycott the referendum as they said that the new constitution would give too much power to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Human rights group A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...

s said that the referendum, which took place without international observers, had seen irregularities.

Results

References

External links

Results by region
{{Republic of the Congo elections 2002 referendums Referendums in the Republic of the Congo 2002 in the Republic of the Congo Constitutional referendums in the Republic of the Congo