The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday, October 30, rejected a petition contesting the Congolese nationality of opponent Moïse Katumbi and removed a potential obstacle to his candidacy for the December 20 presidential election. Moïse Katumbi, 58, rich businessman and former governor of Katanga (south-east), is considered one of the most serious challengers to outgoing President Félix Tshisekedi, candidate for a second term.
Other opponents in the running include, among others, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege and unsuccessful 2018 presidential candidate Martin Fayulu. The final decision on the candidates for the election will be known on November 18, when the Constitutional Court publishes the final list of candidates.
On October 20, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni) published a provisional list of twenty-four candidates. But several litigation requests had since been filed, including one contesting the Congolese nationality of Moïse Katumbi, introduced by another presidential candidate, Noël Tshiani.
The latter is the champion of the concept of “father and mother”, a proposed law on “Congolity”, which has become a sea serpent in the DRC, which would aim to accept in high positions only Congolese born of two Congolese parents. . A way of ruling out Moses Katumbi in particular, whose father was Italian. During the debate before the Constitutional Court on Friday, Mr. Tshiani affirmed that Mr. Katumbi had “obtained Italian nationality”, while, he emphasized, “Congolese nationality is one and exclusive”.
Twenty-six provisional applications
Moïse Katumbi’s lawyer, Mr. Hervé Diakiese, contested his arguments, stressing that Mr. Tshiani had produced before the Court “neither a decision of the Italian authorities recognizing this nationality to Moïse Katumbi, nor any decision of foreign authorities granting [him] a nationality other than Congolese nationality.”
On Monday, Mr. Diakiese welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court to the press, affirming that it was “judicially established, on this day, that there can be no possible dispute over the Congolese nationality of Moïse Katumbi.” “It is the culmination of a very long journey of struggle against injustice, against lies, against manipulation and against disinformation,” he said.
In another request, Seth Kikuni, also a presidential candidate, called for the cancellation of Félix Tshisekedi’s candidacy, on the grounds that the latter added the first name Antoine to his identity. The Court found this request unfounded.
On the other hand, the Court ruled admissible and well-founded two requests made by citizens whose application files had been rejected by the Ceni. These are the candidates Hénoch Ngila and Joëlle Bile, for whom the Court asked the Electoral Commission to put them back on its list within 48 hours, thus increasing the total number of provisional candidates to twenty-six, including two women .