Referendum law: Salomon Kalonda urges Senate not to “open Pandora’s box”

Senator Salomon Kalonda Della Idi is urging his colleagues to reject a bill setting the conditions for a referendum in the DRC, which the National Assembly adopted again on October 23 in the opposition’s absence. He argues that the Constitutional Court’s 13 interpretive reservations do not remove the risk that the bill could pave the way for amending the Constitution and extending Félix Tshisekedi’s presidency to a third term. As the bill returns to the Senate for a second reading, Kalonda is calling on senators to block it and urging Tshisekedi not to promulgate it. He cites the war in the east, population displacement, and the authorities’ loss of control over some areas of the country.