The four top contenders in DR Congo’s presidential election

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The four top contenders in DR Congo’s presidential election

9:46 CAT | 19 Dec 2023

FILE - Election campaign banners in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. [File photo: John Wessels/AFP]

Incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi the presumptive favourite

Top businessman, prior runner-up, Nobel Prize winner in hunt

Voters in Democratic Republic of Congo have 26 presidential candidates to choose from on Wednesday as the mineral-rich country holds its fourth consecutive election following decades of dictatorship and war.

With the single round of voting likely to split support for the opposition, most analysts expect incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi to win a second and final term — five years after his victory in an election marked by irregularities and allegations of mass fraud. But three other candidates look like possible challengers to the 60-year-old, including a politician soccer-team owner, a former Exxon Mobil Corp. executive and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Here are the candidates to watch:

Felix Tshisekedi

Tshisekedi spent the first half of his presidency undermined by supporters of his predecessor, Joseph Kabila, and confronting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, he’s overseen some of the fastest economic growth in Africa on the back of the country’s burgeoning copper and cobalt industry. It’s allowed him to triple the budget and mostly fulfil a promise of free primary education. He’s repaired relations with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, joined the East African Community and won support from the US without alienating China, Congo’s biggest trading partner.

But the relatively strong macroeconomic performance comes amid a massive upsurge in violence in eastern Congo that’s displaced almost 7 million people, according to the United Nations. A declaration of martial law in two provinces did little to curb the dozens of armed groups fighting over land, control of economic resources and ethnic grievances. Tshisekedi has tried to place most of the blame on neighbouring Rwanda, which is backing the M23 rebel group, according to the US and UN experts.

Tshisekedi didn’t start the violence in Congo’s east — it’s been going on for nearly three decades — but he hasn’t been able to end it, either, and his opponents know it’s his biggest weakness.

Moise Katumbi

Observers view the former governor of the country’s most copper-rich province as the president’s most potent rival. Now Katumbi’s top adviser is in prison for alleged collaboration with Rwanda and his party’s spokesman was murdered in July. His recent campaign rallies have been beset by violence from opposition supporters.

Katumbi is among the wealthiest businessmen in DRC, which helps when campaigning in a country the size of western Europe with limited infrastructure. The 58-year-old made his fortune in mining services — though a falling out with Kabila and then Tshisekedi greatly diminished his business — and now has an emerald mine and real estate in Zambia, he told Bloomberg in June. His populist credentials are bolstered by his longtime ownership of Tout Puissant Mazembe, one of Africa’s most successful soccer teams. He also has the support of four other candidates, including a former prime minister, who dropped out to back the ex-governor.

Martin Fayulu

A former Exxon-Mobil executive, Fayulu officially finished second to Tshisekedi in 2018. But the 67-year-old still considers himself the winner, which both the massive Catholic Church election observer mission and leaked results from the electoral commission backed up.

Fayulu calls himself incorruptible and told Bloomberg last month that he’s running his campaign on small donations, instead of giving out money the way many candidates do in Congo. He’s lost key backers from his last presidential bid — including Katumbi, who supported him from exile in 2018.

But his uncompromising stance after that vote could be a draw for Congo’s voters — he refused to join the government and has been the current electoral commission’s most vocal critic.

Denis Mukwege

Mukwege is a gynaecologist renowned for his work with victims of Eastern Congo’s many conflicts. The 68-year-old is a specialist in treating fistulas, a traumatic tearing that can happen to women who endure difficult labor and in some instances of extreme sexual violence.

His work at Panzi Hospital in South Kivu province and his tireless advocacy have won him famous followers around the world and the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

He was an outspoken critic of former president Kabila, who violently prolonged his final term an extra two years, and has been subject to years of death threats and an assassination attempt. He’s remained deeply critical of Tshisekedi and his failure to stop the violence in Congo’s east.

Source: Bloomberg