DRCongo: President advances to new Constitution and third term

O President of the Democratic Republic of Congo has enacted a law that paves the way for the amendment of the Constitution in a context of tensions with the opposition, which accuses him of trying to remain in power for a third term.

The text extends the conditions for organizing a referendum on a constitutional review or the adoption of a new Constitution and was enacted by a decree read on national television (RTNC) early today.

Félix Tshisekedi, 63 years old, has been in charge of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) since 2019 and reaches the end of the second and last term at the end of 2028, according to the current Constitution, which limits the mandate to two five years.

A constitutional review – or an amendment to the Constitution – may allow you to run for a third term.

During a rare press conference in May, the President declared: “If the people want me to have a third term, I will accept.”.

Demonstrations convened by the opposition to protest against “a constitutional coup” took place in June and September in the capital, Kinshasa, and in several other major cities of the country.

The opposition, which was weakened and fragmented from the Presidential elections of 2023, easily won by Tshisekedi, is gathered on a platform called C64, but has, however, difficulty in mobilizing the popular masses in the streets.

In addition, demonstrations were often marked by clashes and almost systematically dispersed by the forces of order.

The United Nations lamented “at least one death” in June in Kinshasa, and the opposition denounced the “murder” of an opponent in September.

Tshisekedi had announced, in mid-July, the organization of a “national dialogue”, but the main opposition parties have so far refused to participate.

In the east of the country, devastated by the war, former President Joseph Kabila, who took the lead of the political-military movement Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN, former M23), had denounced, in October, Kinshasa’s “weather” in wanting to change the Constitution and promised “to put an end to tyranny by all means, including force”.

Eastern DRC is plagued by conflict for more than 30 years.

The region, rich in resources and bordering Rwanda, has been the scene, since the end of 2021, of the resurgence of the armed anti-government group Movement 23 March (M23), supported by Kigali and his army.

In early 2025, the M23, which already controlled vast areas of territory in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, took over the major cities of Goma and Bukavu at the end of a major offensive.

Since then, the combat front has been relatively stable and several measurements are underway, but none of them have been able to silence the weapons to date.

DRCongo accused Joseph Kabila of “collaborating” with the rebels for months.

At the end of September 2025, the military justice of the country condemned the former President (2001-2019) to capital punishment for treason.

Kabila, 55, is also subject to US sanctions for her “financial and political support” to M23.

Several diplomatic sources and observers have expressed the fear that the political challenge will be equated with support for the rebellion and that this will cause a wave of arrests of opponents in the country.

At the end of October, the Council of State decreed the dissolution of Joseph Kabila's political party, the PPRD, which still enjoyed some influence in a part of the political class and in certain provinces, but within which desertions have recently accumulated.

The opposition platform C64 condemned “any seizure of power by arms”, as well as “any amendment to the Constitution, any third term and any postponement of elections scheduled for 2028”.