KINSHASA, May 22 (Xinhua) — The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will hold on Wednesday the postponed election for the leadership of the National Assembly — the country’s lower house of parliament, two days after a failed yet deadly coup attempt.
In the general elections held in December 2023, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi was re-elected for a second term, as the parliamentary coalition Sacred Union of the Nation, composed of Tshisekedi’s Union of Democracy and Social Progress and its allies, won the majority of seats at the 500-seat National Assembly.
However, the National Assembly remains paralyzed due to the lack of a leadership bureau made of posts including the president, first vice-president, and second vice-president.Deputy Prime Minister Vital Kamerhe, whose residence was raided early Sunday by a group of putschists in a coup attempt “nipped in the bud” by the defense forces, was the single candidate for the president, as Christophe Mboso, the outgoing president of the lower house, ran instead for the second vice-president.
The election, scheduled for May 18, was postponed after Tshisekedi discussed the election issues with 406 deputy-elects from the parliamentary coalition. Tshisekedi threatened to “dissolve the National Assembly” if “malpractices persist.”
Over four months after Tshisekedi was sworn in for a second term in January, the Central African nation still fails to form a new government. Tshisekedi nominated in early April Judith Suminwa Tuluka as the new prime minister, who was also targetted by putschists, but the attack was aborted as they couldn’t “identify” her residence. According to the DRC Constitution, the new government could take office after the National Assembly approves Tuluka’s national program with an absolute majority.
