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Political parties in the 2012 National Assembly

As of July 2011, there were 394 registered political parties in the DRC. Needless to say, many if not most were one-man shows and few have had any effective existence since the November 2011 elections. There is usually little ideological differentiation between them. Despite the degree of polarization suggested by the sheer number, their names are largely indistinct from each other, and the vast majority of them profess a desire for unity, union, alliance, rally, or patriotism. One party named the Common Front of Nationalists paradoxically registers two factions (FCN/Mme. Tumba and FCN/Me Kamanda).

Altogether 94 parties gained representation in the 2011 legislative elections, together with numerous independent candidates. There are many small pro-Kabila parties which benefited from the local arithmetic of proportional representation. Even the PPRD split into two parties: PPRD and PPPD (People for Peace and Democracy). The pro-Kabila majority in the National Assembly is organized in a loose coalition named the Majorité Présidentielle (MP), formerly the Alliance pour la Majorité Présidentielle (AMP). This is a typical patronage-based personalistic coalition around the head of state rather than focused on any meaningful policy program.

Political parties are organized in the National Assembly along a “parliamentary group,” or caucus, structure. This structure, which allies one dominant party with smaller ones, allows the smaller ones some degree of representation in the organs of Parliament and some official recognition which they could not obtain with their small size, while giving the larger party greater clout. Altogether, the Majorité Présidentielle had a comfortable majority of about 341 seats (some independents are organized in a parliamentary group led by Jaynet Kabila, the president’s sister).

The ability of the National Assembly to engage in productive democratic debate has been eroded over the past few years, a process which the results from the elections might have accelerated. This trend perhaps has its roots in the departure of Vital Kamerhe as president of the National Assembly in 2009. Under Kamerhe’s leadership, Parliament acted, at least to some extent, as an organ of oversight of the government, and it did produce a few important laws.