In 2018, Congolese politicians teamed up to oust the ruling party led by Joseph Kabila from power. Kabila had served his two terms plus and nominated Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary as the FCC candidate.
Initially, the opposition comprising Martin Fayulu, Adolph Muzito, Felix Tshisekedi, Vital Kamerhe, Jean Pierre Bemba and Moise Katumbi, among others agreed to field one candidate. They settled for Fayulu.
However, Tshisekedi and Kamerhe broke ranks. The two-man pact agreed to field Tshisekedi as president.
Parallel Voter Tabulation of the results in those election showed that Fayulu, who had remained with Bemba, Muzito and Katumbi won the polls by at least 60% of the vote while Tshisekedi was in a distant second with less than 20% of the vote with Shadary finishing in third place. However, Kabila found Tshisekedi more user friendly and negotiated a deal with him.
Tshisekedi was installed as president in a disputed outcome after which he appointed Kamerhe as his Chief of Staff. Although the election was stolen for a user friendly opposition leader in Tshisekedi, Congolese agree that a united opposition was a good advantage for the change of hands.
Going into the 2023 polls, the opposition is not ruling out a united front. This led to a meeting between former prime minister Augustin Matata Mponyo, Shadary and Salomon Kalonda, the senior advisor to Ensemnle leader Moise Katumbi.
The opposition is exploring options for a pact that will field a single candidate to challenge Tshisekedi. It remains to be seen if this strategy will work out well in the December 20, 2023
