Elections in Congo

The CENI manages voter identification and registration, the electoral register, polling, counting and preliminary results. The Constitutional Court reviews presidential and national legislative candidacies and results, while administrative courts of appeal handle provincial disputes. The electoral framework is based mainly on Constitution Articles 70–71 and 211, Electoral Law No. 22/029 of 29 June 2022 and the voter-registration law No. 04/028 with later amendments. Presidential elections use direct universal suffrage, a simple majority, a five-year term and a maximum of one re-election. National and provincial deputies, as well as local councils, are elected directly through multi-member proportional voting using the largest-remainder method. Senators and governors or deputy governors are elected indirectly by provincial deputies. These offices therefore use different ballots, voters and decision procedures. To vote, a person generally needs Congolese nationality, to have reached 18 by the end of registration, to be entered on the electoral roll and to hold an électeur card. Legal exclusions can apply. Registration may be supported by an acte de naissance, certificat de nationalité, an earlier électeur card, a valid passport or driving licence, a school or student card, or a CNSS pension booklet. If none of these documents is available, three voters already registered at the same registration centre may provide a supporting declaration. The lists must be displayed publicly at least 15 days before an election, and objections to entries can be filed. Voting takes place at a Centre or Bureau de Vote et de Dépouillement. The electronic voting device uses a touchscreen and two printers: the voter makes the choice on the device, while a paper record supports the ballot process and a separate printout records the result. The vote is secret. After polls close, the bureau becomes the counting office, counts in front of no more than five accredited witnesses, displays the results immediately, and has election staff and witnesses sign the results form. Witnesses present can receive copies. Sealed documents then move to the appropriate CENI centre or branch. The CENI publishes preliminary results bureau by bureau online and at its locations; the competent court declares final results. Challenges concern voter lists, candidacies or results. Certified CENI results forms are central evidence. For the 2023 national legislative election, 1,123 complaints were recorded: 46 were upheld, 525 rejected as unfounded, 531 declared inadmissible and 21 withdrawn. In 2023, the validated electoral register contained 43,955,181 voters after 3,344,183 raw registrations were removed, including duplicates, minors and test records. Limited diaspora participation was introduced for the 2023 presidential election. As of 6 September 2026, the CENI roadmap for 2025–2029 plans registration and identification in four operational areas from February to September 2026, data centralization until March 2027, and direct presidential, national legislative and provincial elections in December 2028. Preliminary presidential results are planned for January 2029, with final results later that month; national legislative results are planned between January and April 2029, and provincial results between April and June 2029. Local council elections are planned for July 2029. These dates depend on financing, security, infrastructure and later electoral decisions. Several indirect supplementary elections took place in 2025–2026, while local elections for urban councillors, burgomasters and mayors had not been held according to the CENI report because of missing financing. Access and actual polling arrangements must therefore be checked locally, especially in conflict-affected eastern areas and places with long distances, damaged materials, weak transport or unreliable energy.