C64 coalition reiterates call to abandon referendum law proposal

The opposition coalition C64 has reiterated its call to abandon a proposed law that would set the conditions for organizing a referendum. The coalition, comprising several opposition parties, is firmly against the government's plan to revise the constitution.

Jean Marc Kabund, speaking for C64, stated that the project to change the constitution is not abandoned. He emphasized that sending the referendum law back to Parliament for further deliberation, following reservations from the Constitutional Court, does not signify a renunciation of the revisionist project. The coalition argues that in a country facing war and the occupation of its territory by foreign forces, revising the constitution or holding a referendum poses significant risks.

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The project of changing the constitutions is not abandoned at all. The referral to Parliament of the law deliberating the referendum for a new constitution constitutes neither the heir of this law, nor a formal renunciation of the project of changing the constitutions.

C64 warns that such a project could compromise national cohesion and lead to the "balkanization" of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kabund denounced what he described as a consolidation of authoritarian tendencies and a continuous rebellion against the constitutional order by the Tshisekedi regime. He urged the Congolese population to remain vigilant.

The proposed law is scheduled for renewed debate in Parliament during the upcoming September session. This decision follows a request from the President of the Republic, despite the text having already been approved by both the National Assembly and the Senate and declared constitutional by the Constitutional Court. The President seeks to integrate the Court's observations directly into the text to enhance its clarity and legal security.

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In a country confronted by war and the occupation of part of its territory, the risk of compromising national cohesion and balkanization, which such a project entails, constitutes an additional artificially created threat to our national independence, our sovereignty, and the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo.