Politics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The politics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo take place in the context of a decentralisedunitarysemi-presidentialrepublic of 25 provinces and the city-province of Kinshasa. The president is the head of state, elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years, while the prime minister is the head of government appointed by the president with the support of the parliament. The prime minister and the cabinet are responsible to the legislative branch, a bicameral legislature consisting of the National Assembly, with members that are directly elected, and the Senate, with members that are indirectly elected by provincial legislatures. The constitution describes an independent judiciary, which includes the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, and the Council of State. The current political structure of the DRC is known as the Third Republic, which was proclaimed on 29 May 1997, though the current constitution was not promulgated until 18 February 2006.

Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been a battleground, starting with neighboring states invadingZaire, which ended the 32-year rule of Mobutu Sese Seko and saw Laurent-Désiré Kabila becoming the new president. These conflicts originated from the 1994 Rwandan genocide and subsequent destabilization of the DRC's eastern region. Nine African countries became involved directly, with many more offering military, financial, and political support. Internal rebellions further complicated matters. This led to a severe humanitarian crisis. In 2001, Laurent-Désiré was killed, and his son Joseph Kabila took over as the leader of the country. Under the new president's leadership, efforts were made to bring an end to the presence of foreign troops in the eastern DRC, instead a cooperative approach was adopted, focusing on diplomatic discussions to resolve conflicts. This led to peace accords in 2002 that intended to reunify the country and establish a transitional government to draft a constitution and organize elections within three years.

The transitional cabinet took office in June 2003, and the two houses of parliament were set up in July 2003, with the seats distributed among political parties and warring factions. An election commission was established in November 2004. Work on a draft constitution began in February 2005, and it was approved by parliament in May 2005, before passing a national referendum in December 2005 with 82% of the vote. The DRC's first free general election in over four decades was held in July 2006, with a presidential run-off in October 2006, won by Joseph Kabila. Kabila is credited with ending the war, restoring stability to most of the country, and establishing a unified government and army. However, his 18-year administration also came to be known for corruption, electoral fraud, and limited reform, and curtailed democracy and civil liberties. Kabila faced allegations of fraud in his re-election in 2011, and when his constitutional mandate expired in 2016 he extended his term for another two years.

In 2019, Félix Tshisekedi succeeded Kabila after the contentious 2018 election, in the DRC's first peaceful transition of power since independence. Since then, democratic institutions have continued to decline as the political system is dominated by the president and his family, whose re-election in 2023 was marred by allegations of fraud. National general elections in 2006, 2011, 2018, and 2023 have seen high voter turnouts. As of 2024, there were over 1,000 political parties registered in the DRC. The most prominent include Félix Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), Joseph Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), Moïse Katumbi's Together for the Republic (EPR), Jean-Pierre Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), and Vital Kamerhe's Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC).