On 30 July and 20 October 2006, less than a year after a December 2005 constitutional referendum, the vast and strife-wracked Democratic Republic of the Congo held its first multiparty elections since 1965.The holding of competitive elections must count as a significant achievement even though voters signaled their disaffection with the entire array of political elites that had been ruling them.
About the Author
Herbert F. Weiss is emeritus professor of political science at the City University of New York and senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Political Protest in the Congo (1968). In 2006, he served as a member of the Carter Center’s election-observation team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
As more and more African presidents attempt to remove or circumvent constitutional term limits, African populations increasingly are mobilizing en masse, at great risk, to defend their constitutions.
