VI.

Government

After the Congo received its independence from Belgium in 1960, it experienced five years of political turmoil. In 1965 army chief of staff Joseph Désiré Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko) seized power in a coup. For 32 years Mobutu ran a corrupt, undemocratic regime, concentrating power in the executive branch and favoring those loyal to him. His party, the Popular Movement for the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution, or MPR), became the sole legal political party, and dissidents were suppressed. After significant opposition to Mobutu’s one-party system, he initiated nominal political reforms in 1990. A national conference was convened to draft a new constitution, but Mobutu successfully blocked its progress.

In May 1997 rebels led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila seized control of the country and overthrew Mobutu. Kabila suspended the constitution, dissolved the country’s powerless legislature, and declared himself president. A constitutional commission drafted a new constitution in mid-1998, but it was never submitted to a national referendum due to the start of another civil war in eastern DRC. Despite promises of democratization and the establishment of a 300-member transitional legislative body in 2000, Kabila ruled by decree.

Kabila was assassinated in January 2001 by one of his bodyguards. Kabila’s administration named his son Joseph Kabila as the new president. After months of negotiations, in July 2003 Joseph Kabila established a power-sharing government, swearing in four new vice presidents and a new cabinet. Two of the new vice presidents were leaders of the two major rebel groups involved in the civil war, one was a member of the civilian political opposition, and one was allied with Kabila. The new cabinet posts were similarly shared out to different political groups.

In May 2005 the country’s transitional parliament adopted a new constitution, which was approved by referendum in December 2005. The new constitution went into effect in February 2006. It recognized as citizens all ethnic groups living in the DRC at the time of independence in 1960. Anyone 18 years or older is eligible to vote, and voting is compulsory.

A.

Executive

Under the 2006 constitution the president is the head of state. The head of government is the prime minister, who is appointed by the president. The president is limited to two five-year terms and must be at least 30 years old.

B.

Legislature

The legislature is a bicameral body consisting of a 500-member National Assembly (lower house) and a 120-member Senate (upper house). All members serve five-year terms. In the National Assembly, 60 members are elected by majority vote and 440 by proportional representation. Senators are elected by indirect vote.

C.

Judiciary

The DRC’s legal system is based on Belgian law and on local traditions. The highest court is the Supreme Court in Kinshasa. There are also county courts and courts of appeal. The president appoints all judges.

D.

Local Government

Until the new constitution was approved in 2005, the DRC was divided into one city, Kinshasa, and ten administrative regions. The administrative regions were Bandundu, Bas-Congo, Équateur, Orientale, Kasai-Occidental, Kasai-Oriental, Maniema, Nord-Kivu, Katanga, and Sud-Kivu. Each was administered by a commissioner appointed by the president. To promote a looser form of federalism, the new constitution created 26 provinces in the DRC.

E.

Political Parties and Groups

Many parties formed in the 1990s, largely divided along ethnic or regional lines. A ban on the formation of political associations was lifted in 1999, and all restrictions on the registration and operation of political parties were removed in 2001. The party of current president Joseph Kabila is the Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et le Developpement (PPRD), also known as the Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et la Démocratie. Main opposition parties include Union pour la Democratie et le Progres Social (UDPS), Forces du Futur (FDF), Forces Novatrices pour l’Union et la Solidarite (FONUS), Parti Democrate Social Chretien (PDSC), Mouvement Social Democratie et Developpement (MSDD), Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution-Fait Prive (MPR-FP), Union des Nationalistes et des Federalistes Congolais (UNAFEC), and Mouvement National Congolais/Lumumba (MNC/L). Former rebel movements that became political parties include the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD), Mouvement pour la Liberation du Congo (MLC), and independent splinter groups of the RCD (RCD-ML, RCD-N).

F.

Defense

In 2004 military forces consisted of a total of 64,800 personnel, dominated by an army of 60,000. There is also an air force of 3,000 members, and a navy of 1,800 members. Paramilitary forces and a civil guard totaled more than 31,000 members. Military service is voluntary. Defense expenditures in 1997 accounted for 14 percent of the national budget. Because the military was the main source of support for Mobutu, the Kabila regime reorganized the armed forces, placing its own supporters in command.

G.

International Organizations

The DRC is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, and the African Development Bank.