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Prominent Democratic Republic of Congo opposition figure Delly Sesanga urged President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday to abandon proposed constitutional revisions that could enable him to seek a third term in office.
Tensions between the government and opposition groups have mounted following parliamentary approval of a proposal to lengthen the presidential mandate ahead of the scheduled 2028 elections.
“A nation at war should not have changing the constitution as a priority,” stated Sesanga, president of the ENVOL party and member of the C64 opposition coalition.
Although Tshisekedi recently returned a controversial draft law easing referendum conditions to the National Assembly for review, Sesanga dismissed the action as “a gesture that is still not sufficient.”
He demanded that the Congolese president and the assembly’s ruling-party majority “definitively abandon this project” entirely.
The constitutional dispute unfolds alongside ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group captured significant territory, including the capitals of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in January 2025.
Expressing concern over potential voter disenfranchisement in the war-torn regions, Sesanga emphasised that “no serious Congolese would accept an election without North Kivu and South Kivu.”
Addressing national challenges and opposition unity, he added that “the main opponent is the misery in which our population lives, insecurity, and the lack of jobs for young people.”
