DR Congo’s recently elected president, Felix Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph Kabila on Wednesday said they had decided to form a coalition government following talks.
Despite Tshisekedi’s election—the first peaceful transition of power since the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960—the 55-year-old has found himself effectively having to share power since the presidential poll.
He has not been able to push through his choice for prime minister as Kabila’s Common Front for Congo (FCC) wields a huge majority in the National Assembly, for which elections were also held on December 30.
The stalemate has put a brake on Tshisekedi’s declared ambitions of reforming a country marked by corruption and rights abuses.
The FCC has 342 of the 485 seats while only around 50 are members of the CACH, the bloc representing Tshisekedi, whose late father Etienne spent 35 years in opposition and never reached the top.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, Tshisekedi and Kabila said that although the “FCC holds an absolute majority in the National Assembly” to reflect the will of the people expressed in the poll, the FCC and the CACH are affirming “their common will to govern together as part of a coalition government”.
This path would aim to preserve the “achievements of the historic peaceful transfer of power that took place on January 24, 2019 to strengthen the climate of peace and stability of the country… and facilitate the rapid establishment of a government,” it added.
The statement follows a visit to Namibia last week when Tshisekedi vented his frustration at being unable to assemble a majority to back his choice for prime minister.
“The president that I am will not accept being a president who reigns but doesn’t govern.” he said.