DRC: President Felix Tshisekedi says he is prepared to accept a third term “if the people so wish”
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi on Wednesday in Kinshasa opened the door to a possible third term via a constitutional referendum, while making the holding of the 2028 presidential elections conditional on the resolution of the armed conflict in the east of the country. “I have not sought a third term, but if the people wish it, I will accept,” he declared during a press conference on the sidelines of World Press Freedom Day.
This statement comes in a tense political context. On April 30, MP Paul-Gaspard Ngondankoy tabled a 93-article bill aimed at organizing a referendum, with a constitutional revision via a Constituent Assembly as the key outcome. The presidential majority is actively preparing the ground.
Elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, Tshisekedi will reach the end of his constitutionally permitted second term in 2028. But the head of state also set a condition for holding the next election.
“If we cannot end this war, unfortunately, we will not be able to hold elections in 2028,” he warned, citing the example of Ukraine.
He specified that the election could not take place without the participation of North Kivu and South Kivu, two provinces under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 group.
These remarks sparked immediate reactions. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo denounced a project that distracts attention from the crises facing the country.
Opposition figure Delly Sessanga accused the government of using the war to freeze democratic life, recalling that Tshisekedi himself, in 2016, fought on the streets against the “electoral slippage” orchestrated by his predecessor Joseph Kabila.
Facing criticism, the president defended himself: “I do not want to cling to power, but I want to serve my country.” He also downplayed the slogans of his supporters in favor of his staying in power, calling them a “normal debate.”
Gilbert FOTSO
