section_path: Government and politics
section_name: Government and politics
paragraph_text: Government and politics
  
  The Democratic Republic of the Congo is, constitutionally, a semi-presidential republic in which the president is the head of state, elected by universal suffrage to a term of five years, while the prime minister is the head of government appointed by the president with the support of the majority party or coalition of parties in the parliament. The prime minister and the cabinet, known as the government, are responsible to the legislature rather than to the president. The parliament is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly. Deputies of the National Assembly are directly elected for a term of five years, while senators are elected indirectly by provincial legislatures, also for a term of five years. The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and appoints government and military officials. The constitution is the basis for an independent judiciary, consisting of the Constitutional Court to evaluate the constitutionality of laws and to settle disputes regarding elections or the separation of powers; the Court of Cassation as the court of last resort in the civil and military judicial system; and the Council of State as the highest administrative court.
  
  The DRC's political system is considered to be authoritarian and scores low on rankings of democracy, political rights, and civil liberties. Despite the constitution providing for the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers, in practice the president and his associates have dominated the political system. Freedom House rates the country as "not free" in 2025, citing endemic corruption, the manipulation of the political system, and human rights abuses, including by security forces. The Economist Democracy Index described the DRC as an "authoritarian regime" in 2024, ranking it 156 out of the 167 countries that it evaluated. The DRC was also ranked 163 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2024. Administrative institutions remain weak, especially in rural areas, undermining the ability of government to provide basic services to the population. The state has also struggled to extend its administration over the country's entire territory. The Fragile States Index ranked the DRC the 5th most fragile country in the world, out of 179 countries, as of 2024.
  
  During the presidency of Joseph Kabila from 2001 to 2019, the government was marked by corruption, a lack of transparency, and human rights violations. Kabila remained in office beyond his constitutional mandate, which ended in 2016, by delaying an election. After it was held in late 2018 Kabila was succeeded by Félix Tshisekedi in the DRC's first peaceful transition of power since independence, but the election is widely seen as having been rigged in a deal made between Kabila and Tshisekedi. Tshisekedi was reelected in late 2023, and after negotiations appointed Judith Suminwa as prime minister in 2024, the first woman to hold the post.
  
  The current political system is known as the Third Republic, declared by Laurent-Désiré Kabila at his presidential inauguration on 29 May 1997. Apart from changing the country's name from Zaire back to the DR Congo and restoring its previous symbols, Kabila's government made few changes from the dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko. After the Second Congo War (1998–2003), during which Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated, a transitional constitution was adopted on 4 April 2003 as part of the peace process. It was replaced by the current constitution, the Constitution of the Third Republic, which went into effect on 18 February 2006. The current flag was also adopted. The Transitional Government, led by Joseph Kabila, oversaw the creation of the current system: the first cabinet took office in June 2003, the two chambers of the parliament were organized in July 2003, a constitution was adopted by a referendum in December 2005, and the country's first free election in over four decades was held in July 2006. Since the process of democratization began in 1990, more than 600 registered political parties emerged in the DRC, though only four of them—the UPDS, PPRD, UNC, and MLC —successfully operate across the entire country.