ELECTIONS UPDATE: MOMENTUM IN MOVING TOWARD

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001890 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS SUBJECT: ELECTIONS UPDATE: MOMENTUM IN MOVING TOWARD FUNCTIONAL INSTITUTIONS REF: KINSHASA 1856 ¶1. Summary. Antoine Gizenga, widely expected to become Prime Minister, was named government "informateur" on December 19 and is charged with determining if a majority can be found in the National Assembly. The Supreme Court will soon announce its certification of the National Assembly's Internal Rules and its decision of the MLC's challenge to those rules ahead of the December 23 deadline (reftel). Provincial Assemblies began to meet throughout the country on December 18, and are preparing to elect both senators and governors. End summary. -------------- Prime Minister -------------- ¶2. The National Assembly has undertaken the preliminary processes necessary to identify an Assembly majority ahead of the formal announcement of the DRC's new Prime Minister. On December 19, President Joseph Kabila designated Antoine Gizenga, head of the Unified Party of Lumumbists (PALU),as the government "informateur" with the responsibility of determining if a majority or a majority coalition can be found in the National Assembly. According to the Congolese constitution, the new Prime Minister will be named from among this majority. ¶3. The Alliance for the Presidential Majority (which includes Kabila's Peoples' Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD),along with Gizenga's PALU party and Nzanga Mobutu's Union of Democratic Mobutuists party (UDEMO)) holds over 300 of the 500 seats in the Assembly and will be designated as the majority coalition. In fact, the Presidency is reported to be anxious to name the Prime Minister, and Gizenga has already been conferring with various political groups. Kabila is expected to name Gizenga as Prime Minister, perhaps as early as the upcoming holiday weekend. -------------- Supreme Court, National Assembly -------------- ¶4. The Supreme Court has not yet announced a decision on Jean-Pierre Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) party's challenges to the Internal Rules of the National Assembly (reftel). In theory, the Supreme Court could invalidate any section of the Rules and return the document to the National Assembly for further revision, although this is not anticipated. Although the deadline for a ruling is December 23, the Supreme Court is likely to validate the Internal Rules and announce its decision as early as December 21. -------------- Provincial Assemblies -------------- ¶5. Special sessions of the newly elected Provincial Assemblies began meeting on December 18. In all provinces, the most important initial business is the certification of elections results for the new provincial deputies, designation of provisional bureau members, and establishment of internal rules for each regional assembly. The provincial assemblies will also elect senators and governors for each province -- a process scheduled to be finished by January 7, though some slippage of that date is anticipated. DOUGHERTY