Elections in Congo Republic

The Republic of the Congo, also called Congo-Brazzaville, has separate electoral procedures for the presidency, the National Assembly, the Senate, local councils and referendums. The electoral system is based on universal, direct or indirect, free, equal and secret suffrage. The CNEI organizes and supervises elections, trains local commissions and centralizes polling-station results. The DGAE within the Ministry of the Interior and Decentralization manages state election administration. The Constitutional Court reviews presidential-election regularity, handles presidential complaints and proclaims final presidential results; it also rules on parliamentary candidacies and results. Ordinary courts handle other electoral disputes. Congolese citizens aged 18 or older can vote if they retain their civil and political rights and appear on the electoral roll at their place of residence or stay. Administrative revision commissions can register voters, correct entries, remove duplicate or invalid entries and delete records. Local commissions include representatives of the administration, the majority, the opposition, the centre and civil society. A voter may identify themselves with a national identity card or certificate, passport, driving licence, military record book, professional card or student or pupil card. If none of these is available, an act of birth together with certificates from two registered voters from the same polling station may be accepted when those voters present an eligible identity document. The president is elected directly as a single candidate by absolute majority. The presidential mandate lasts five years and may be renewed twice. If a second round is required, it takes place 21 days after the Constitutional Court proclaims the first-round results. Presidential candidates must be Congolese by origin, at least 30 years old, in possession of their civil and political rights, of good moral character, have at least eight years of professional experience and prove physical and psychological fitness through three sworn doctors. The 2026 presidential candidacy fee was 25,000,000 CFA francs and was non-refundable. A parliamentary list cost 500,000 CFA francs and was also non-refundable. Deputies are elected directly for five years in single-member constituencies through a majority system with two rounds. The National Assembly currently has 153 seats. Senators serve six years and are elected indirectly by departmental and municipal councillors. Local councillors serve five years and are elected through party or group lists using proportional representation. Voters cannot change the order of candidates through panachage or preferential voting. Local lists must include at least 30% women and follow strict alternation in their upper third. There are 1,255 local mandates in total. Before voting, the electoral body is established by decree in the Council of Ministers and the competent authorities publish the timetable. For the 2026 presidential election, candidacies were submitted from 29 January to 12 February. On election day, polling stations normally operate from 7:00 to 18:00. Members of the public force vote in advance where designated; in 2026 this took place on 12 March, while general voting took place on 15 March in 6,508 regular polling stations and 235 special public-force stations. Voters mark their ballot secretly in a voting booth and place it in the ballot box. Coercion is prohibited. Members of the public force may enter or remain in a polling station or its immediate surroundings only with the authorization of the polling-station president. Media monitoring and voter education form part of the pre-election process. The CSLC calls for balanced, equal and impartial media treatment, including information about registration, checking voter records, secret voting and participation, with national or local languages used where appropriate. The CNEI receives reports of irregularities. Each polling station prepares a procès-verbal, which passes through local commissions to the CNEI for provisional results. Presidential challenges must be filed within five days after provisional proclamation, and the Constitutional Court must decide within 15 days. If the election is annulled, a new election takes place within 45 to 90 days. In the 2026 presidential election, 3,155,751 voters were registered and 2,681,921 voted. There were 37,578 invalid ballots and 2,644,343 valid votes, corresponding to reported participation of 84.99%. Denis Sassou-N’Guesso received 2,509,456 votes, or 94.90%, and was elected in the first round. The Constitutional Court rejected Mafoula’s challenge. There is no separate election for the government: the president appoints and dismisses the prime minister and appoints other ministers on the prime minister’s proposal. The parliamentary majority remains relevant to legislation and a motion of censure. For a referendum, the president alone has the initiative, the Constitutional Court conducts a prior conformity review and the Court proclaims the final result.