Congo-Brazzaville - 2026 Elections
The Republic of the Congo is a semipresidential republic in which the constitution vests most decision-making authority and political power in the president and prime minister. Local and international organizations regularly accused government officials, including the president, his family, and senior ministers, of corruption. The accusations generally alleged officials diverted revenues from their official portfolios into private, overseas accounts before officially declaring the remaining revenues.
In 2015 the country adopted a new constitution that extends the maximum number of presidential terms and years to three terms of five years and provides complete immunity to former presidents. In March 2021 the Constitutional Court proclaimed the incumbent, Denis Sassou Nguesso, the winner of the March 21 presidential election, regardless of opposition and international criticism of electoral irregularities. The government last held legislative and local elections in July, with legislative election irregularities sufficient to restrict the ability of citizens to choose their government. While the country has a multiparty political system, members of the president’s Congolese Labor Party and its allies retained 89 percent of legislative and 50 percent of the local seats, and Congolese Labor Party members occupied almost all senior government positions.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists and censorship; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; inability of citizens to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; serious government corruption; serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including but not limited to domestic and intimate partner violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting Indigenous peoples; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons.
Prison and detention center conditions were harsh and life threatening due to gross overcrowding, inadequate sanitary conditions, and a severe deficit of medical and psychological care. There were a few reported deaths resulting from abuse, neglect, and overcrowding in prisons and pretrial detention centers. Most inmates, however, slept on the floor on cardboard in small, overcrowded cells that exposed them to disease. The prisons lacked drainage and ventilation, and they had poorly maintained lighting with wiring protruding from the walls. Local NGOs commented that the cells were infested with insects and rats.
The food provided in prisons did not meet minimum caloric or nutrition requirements; however, prison authorities usually permitted inmates’ families to supply them with additional food. Authorities permitted women to cook over small fires in a shared recreational space. The Pointe-Noire Prison occasionally had running water.
There was a bail system, but with 70 percent of the population living in poverty, most detainees could not afford to post bail. There is an option for provisional release, but officials usually denied these requests. Authorities sometimes informed detainees of charges against them at the time of arrest, but the filing of formal charges often took more than one week. Police at times held persons for six months or longer before filing charges. Observers attributed most administrative delays to lack of staff in the Ministry of Justice. Family members sometimes received prompt access to detainees but often only after payment of bribes. Between 60 and 75 percent of detainees in prison were pretrial detainees, sometimes exceeding the maximum sentence for the alleged crime.
There were unconfirmed reports of direct and indirect intimidation of journalists by the government, including telephone calls from official and anonymous persons warning journalists and news outlets not to use video of politically sensitive events or publish certain stories. Many journalists and editors at larger circulation media outlets practiced selfcensorship and promoted the editorial views of media owners. Newspapers published open letters written by government opponents.
Political parties and civil society groups faced restrictions on their ability to participate in the political and electoral process. The law conferred recognition on 55 of 200 parties. According to the government, the remaining political parties did not meet the nationwide representation requirements. There were unconfirmed reports of government funds being used to secure transportation and illicit votes, and for campaigning activities leading up to and during the two weeks of the legislative and local elections campaign.
Three opposition parties in the Republic of Congo met 08 May 2023 for their first convention as a coalition to outline the group’s goals ahead of the 2026 elections so they can unseat President Denis Nguesso, who has been in power since 1997. The Alliance for Democratic Alternation in 2026 (2AD2026), whose members gathered on Sunday, is made up of the Democracy and Development party of former President Jacques Joachim Yhomby Opango, the Movement of Republicans and the People’s Party. The parties have grassroots support but no seats in parliament.
The opposition coalition was launched in April 2023 with the aim of bringing change to a political landscape dominated by Nguesso. The 80-year-old president is set to run for a fifth term. He was also president from 1979 to 1991, losing in the 1992 elections before returning five years later.
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