A brawl has broken out between MPs in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament, with politicians throwing chairs and flipping tables on Tuesday over the president’s decision to dissolve the ruling coalition.
On Sunday, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, announced the dissolution of the country’s National Assembly, which is controlled by the former president Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for the Congo (FCC) party, and ordered new elections.
At least one person was reportedly injured on Tuesday after lawmakers responded by trashing the parliament building in a bid to prevent the scheduled session from going ahead.
Tshisekedi has defended his move, arguing he was elected to stabilize the country and overcome the disagreements that have emerged in the ruling coalition. However, the FCC blasted the move as a “flagrant and intentional breach of the constitution.”
In an effort to resolve the political turmoil, Tshisekedi held emergency talks with Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga, who is pro-Kabila, on Monday afternoon. However, no resolution was reached at that time.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been warning about political tension in the country for the past week, fearing that the president’s actions could undermine the fragile political stability that was established following the 2018 election.
While Tshisekedi took control of the presidency in 2019 – succeeding Kabila, who had held the office for 18 years – he has been required to work with the former president’s FCC party to get his agenda through parliament.
Since October, the two sides have been in a stalemate over a number of issues, including national security and the organization of elections.
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