Three political parties in Congo-Brazzaville launched an “alliance for democratic alternation in 2026” on Thursday, April 13, as President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has been in power for nearly forty years, is a potential candidate for the next election. .
This new opposition platform brings together the Rally for Democracy and Development (RDD), of the late President Jacques Joachim Yhomby Opango (1977-1979), the Republican Movement and the People’s Party. Although they do not have elected members in Parliament, these three parties often bring together their activists to make them aware of the need, according to them, for alternation.
“There are people [from other parties] coming. We have the people with us. There are many corrupt people in our country. But we want to bring something new,” Jean-Jacques Serge Yhomby Opango, vice-president of the RDD and son of the party’s founder, told AFP after the official launch of the platform in front of activists from the three parties. “In 2026, there must be a political and democratic alternation. We can’t let things be like this, because the country is going down the drain,” he said.
The next presidential election is scheduled for 2026. Denis Sassou Nguesso, aged almost 80, has the possibility of running for a fifth term, according to the Constitution.
“We have three years left and we have plenty of time to solve the problems that undermine our country during the elections, including electoral governance, the electoral roll,” said Destin Gavet of the Republican Movement. “The bodies that plan and conduct all pre-election and electoral operations are monopolized by one party, the ruling party. De facto, the rules of the game are flawed from the start,” noted Jean-Jacques Agnangoye of the People’s Party.
In Congo, the opposition has contested the results of all elections held since 2002 and won by Mr. Sassou Nguesso.
