{"id":2000120841,"date":"2026-07-29T11:22:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000120841"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:23:04","slug":"court-upholds-law-paving-way-for-tshisekedi-to-seek-third-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/court-upholds-law-paving-way-for-tshisekedi-to-seek-third-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Court upholds law paving way for Tshisekedi to seek third term"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ruling is expected to open the door for Tshisekedi to run again when his second and constitutionally mandated final term ends in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision was announced on July 28, 2026, by the President of the Constitutional Court, Dieudonn\u00e9 Kamuleta Badibanga, who said the referendum law complies with the country’s Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tshisekedi has been in office since January 2019. Under the current Constitution, the President is limited to two terms, after which power is expected to be transferred to another Congolese citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The referendum law, which was approved by both chambers of Parliament, establishes the procedures for amending certain provisions of the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its ruling, the Constitutional Court affirmed that the President has the authority to initiate the constitutional amendment process through a special parliamentary procedure, which would then be followed by a national constitutional referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition leaders, including Martin Fayulu, Jean-Marc Kabund, Mo\u00efse Katumbi and Delly Sesanga, have strongly opposed the initiative, arguing that it is designed to enable Tshisekedi to secure a third presidential term despite the current constitutional limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition had planned nationwide demonstrations to protest the proposed constitutional changes but postponed the protests after the government announced plans to organise an inclusive national dialogue bringing together stakeholders from across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early May 2026, Tshisekedi said he had never requested a third term. However, he added that he would accept if the Congolese people wanted him to continue leading the country. He also stated that if the conflict in eastern DRC remains unresolved by 2028, the country would not hold presidential elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Constitutional Court has cleared path for Tshisekedi’s bid for a third term<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has upheld a law establishing the legal framework for a constitutional referendum, a move widely seen as paving the way for President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi to seek a third term in office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000120844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[99],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000120841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000120844,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/tsh-22-bba27.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":563,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/tsh-22-bba27.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/tsh-22-bba27.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/tsh-22-bba27.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/tsh-22-bba27.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/tsh-22-bba27.jpg","width":1000,"height":563}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000120841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000120841"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000120841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000120904,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000120841\/revisions\/2000120904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000120844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000120841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000120841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000120841"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000120841"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000120841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}