Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said he \u200bwas open to standing for a third term, angering opposition politicians who accused him of planning \u200cto break through mandate limits in the constitution and cling to power.<\/p>\n
Tshisekedi also said\u00a0fighting in the east\u00a0could make it impossible to hold the next presidential vote on time in 2028 – raising the prospect of a delay that could prove equally divisive in \u200bthe\u00a0mineral-rich nation which has endured decades of conflict.<\/p>\n
Congo experienced a prolonged political crisis under former president \u200bJoseph Kabila after he delayed elections beyond the end of his mandate in 2016, \u2060triggering deadly protests and international condemnation.<\/p>\n
OPPOSITION FIGURE WARNS AGAINST ‘SLIDE’<\/strong><\/p>\n “I have not asked for a third term, but if \u200bthe people want a third term, I will accept,” Tshisekedi told a press conference late on Wednesday, responding \u200bto a question about recent proposals by allies to revise the constitution.<\/p>\n Congo’s constitution currently limits presidents to two terms. Tshisekedi said any change would require a constitutional revision approved by referendum.<\/p>\n Opposition figures criticised Tshisekedi\u2019s remarks, saying they could plunge the country into \u200brenewed political turmoil.<\/p>\n “The DRC cannot enter a new cycle of institutional tensions and the personalization of power. All \u200bdemocrats must stand against this slide,” former presidential candidate Delly Sesanga wrote on X after the press conference.<\/p>\n Tshisekedi, the son \u200cof veteran \u2060opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, was re-elected in December 2023 for a second term.<\/p>\n He first\u00a0floated the idea\u00a0of revising the constitution in late 2024, arguing that the current charter was largely drafted by foreign legal experts and required updating.<\/p>\n Calls for a constitutional revision have intensified in recent weeks. In April, Andre Mbata, the permanent secretary \u200bof the Sacred Union coalition, \u200binvited political parties, civil \u2060society groups, religious organisations, labour unions and legal experts to submit proposals.<\/p>\n Mbata said a technical commission would be set up after May 20 to examine the submissions, \u200bbefore making recommendations to the president.<\/p>\n WAR COULD AFFECT VOTE TIMING, PRESIDENT SAYS<\/strong><\/p>\n The debate over \u200ba possible \u2060constitutional revision is unfolding against the backdrop of insecurity in the east, where the AFC\/M23 coalition, a rebel group backed by Rwanda, controls large swathes of territory.<\/p>\n Rwanda has denied accusations by the\u00a0United Nations\u00a0and Western governments that it supports \u2060the insurgents.<\/p>\n Fighting \u200bhas continued despite\u00a0mediation efforts\u00a0by the United States and others.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this \u200bwar cannot be ended, unfortunately we will not be able to organise elections in 2028,\u201d Tshisekedi said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot hold elections when parts \u200bof the country are occupied.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said he \u200bwas open to standing for a third term, angering opposition politicians who accused him of planning \u200cto break through mandate limits in the constitution and cling to power. Tshisekedi also said\u00a0fighting in the east\u00a0could make it impossible to hold the next presidential vote on time in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,2362,33],"tags":[3016,303],"class_list":["post-20814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-africa","category-east-africa","category-featured","category-politics","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo-drc","tag-felix-tshisekedi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20815,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20814\/revisions\/20815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}