On Thursday, August 13, in the midst of rising tensions with the Coalition Article 64 (C64)—a prominent opposition alliance formed in May by key political forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—President Félix Tshisekedi requested that Parliament reconsider a bill outlining the terms for organizing a referendum on constitutional reform.
The C64 has long argued that the president’s initiative, championed by his party since 2024, is a strategic move to enable Tshisekedi to seek a third term, a provision explicitly barred by the 2006 Constitution. The coalition had set a deadline for action, warning that if no steps were taken to engage in genuine national dialogue, it would escalate pressure through mass mobilizations.
A day earlier in Kinshasa, Dieudonné Bolengetenge, Secretary-General of Ensemble pour la République and spokesperson for C64, emphasized that the coalition would no longer heed calls for restraint unless the president took decisive steps to address their concerns.