President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (French: Président de la République démocratique du Congo, Swahili: Rais wa Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo, Lingala: Mokonzi wa Republíki ya Kongó Demokratíki) is the head of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

For a list of presidents of the DRC, see List of presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

President of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo

His Excellency

Head of state

Palais de la Nation, Kinshasa

5 years,
renewable once

30 June 1960

Joseph Kasavubu

President of the Senate

Official website of the President of the DRC

The position of president in the DRC has existed since the first constitution – known as The Fundamental Law – of 1960. However the powers of this position have varied over the years, from a limited shared role in the executive branch, with a prime minister, to a full-blown dictatorship. Under the current constitution, the President exists as the highest institution in a semi-presidential republic. The president is protected by the Republican Guard.The constitutional mandate of the then president, Joseph Kabila, was due to expire on 20 December 2016 but was initially extended by him until the end of 2017^[1] and he continued to remain in post until a presidential election was held in December 2018 when Félix Tshisekedi was elected and took office on 24 January 2019.

When the majority of the Assembly has opposite political views to that of the president, this leads to political cohabitation. In that case, the president's power is diminished, since much of the de facto power relies on a supportive prime minister and National Assembly, and is not directly attributed to the post of president. Still, the constitutional convention is that the president directs foreign policy, though he must work on that matter with the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

When the majority of the Assembly sides with him, the President can take a more active role and may, in effect, direct government policy. The prime minister is often a mere "fuse" – and can be replaced if the administration becomes unpopular.

The semi-presidential system established by the constitution is largely borrowed from the French constitution. Although it is the prime minister and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual lawmaking, the president wields significant influence, both formally and from constitutional convention. The president holds the nation's most senior office, and outranks all other politicians.

The president is able to choose the prime minister. However, the President must nominate the prime minister from among the parliamentary majority after consultation with the parliamentary majority, if an obvious majority exists, and if it does not exist, must nominate a prime minister who has a once renewable 30 day exploratory mandate to form a coalition. The prime minister and cabinet must present their plan of action to the National Assembly, which must approve the government and the plan of action by an absolute majority. Only the National Assembly has the power to dismiss the prime minister's government.

Among the formal powers of the president:

Requirements[edit]

Article 72 of the Congolese constitution states that the President must be a natural-born citizen – or more accurately: French: citoyen d'origine – of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and at least 30 years of age. Additionally, the President must be free of any legal constraints on their civil and political rights.

Article 10 of the same constitution defines citoyen d'origine as : "anyone belonging to the ethnic groups whose persons and territory constituted what became the Congo (currently the Democratic Republic of the Congo), at independence".

the ; it houses foreign official guests;

Palais de Marbre

the Domaine de la Rwindi in , Nord-Kivu.

Goma

The official office of the president is the Palais de la Nation (Palace of the Nation) in Kinshasa.The official residence of the president is the Camp Tshatshi Palace in Kinshasa, although it has not been used since it was looted in 1997. Other presidential residences include:

Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

List of presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Historical:

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo