DR Congo ruling coalition seeks court interpretation of president's mandate

Over 200 Congolese parliamentarians of the Presidential Majority camp in DR Congo on Monday filed a case at the Kinshasa Constitutional Court, seeking interpretation of the constitutional articles on the end of a president's mandate.

According to the parliamentarians of the ruling coalition, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo should remain in office until his elected successor is sworn in just as the case is for senators, parliamentarians and governors.

One of the parliamentarians, Kokoniangi, told Xinhua after leaving the court that their move sought to end the current political "noise".

However, the interpretation from the presidential camp has been rejected by the opposition, which argues that "at the expiry of the president's term, a transition government should be put in place until the election of a new president."

Debate on the end of the term for the current president has polarized the Congolese political class for several months.

Article 70 of DR Congo's constitution stipulates: "At the end of his term, the president of the republic shall remain in office until the swearing in of the new president-elect."

The second and final term of President Joseph Kabila comes to an end in December this year. The opposition has accused him of planing to remain in power beyond 2016. Endit