(Kinshasa) He wanted a second term, he offered himself a triumph. The organization of the elections left something to be desired, but at 60, Félix Tshisekedi, re-elected for five years as President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be able to set about “consolidating what has been achieved”.
Tall stature and massive silhouette, cap and shirt marked with the number 20, the number assigned to him by the electoral commission, “Fatshi Béton” (his nickname) led a pugnacious and big-money campaign across the vast country.
In the end, facing 25 other candidates and during a single round election, he achieved a score of 73.34% of the votes, which raises questions by its magnitude and which his opponents attribute to the irregularities of the ballot.
The results of his first term were considered mixed by analysts.
He has not restored peace in the country’s torn east. The freedoms he said he wanted to defend were undermined in the run-up to the elections, with the imprisonment of opponents and journalists. Even if the growth figures are good, young people do not have work and “mothers” struggle to feed their families.
But he highlighted “achievements” and achievements, to be “consolidated” according to him, which appealed to voters, such as free primary education. And he promised to do more, to extend free secondary education, to create jobs, to develop agriculture, to continue his development plan for deep Congo.
Against the backdrop of a rebellion supported by Rwanda, accused once again by Kinshasa of expansionist desires in the east of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, a Luba from Kasaï (central DRC), also used the nationalist and identity register, in pointing out the origins or supposed “foreign” support of opposition candidates.
The speech may have been deemed populist and dangerous by some, in a mosaic country with fragile unity, but it hit the mark.
Well living
In December 2018, his victory marked the first bloodless transition in the former Zaire. Son of the historic opponent Étienne Tshisekedi, who died the previous year, he succeeded Joseph Kabila, who came to power in 2001 after the assassination of his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
But the opponent Martin Fayulu claimed to have won the election and accused Félix Tshisekedi of complicity in an “electoral putsch” planned by Joseph Kabila. “Fatshi” until recently denied any “fraudulent arrangement” with his predecessor, but suspicion sticks to him.
At the start of his first mandate, a coalition agreement linked him to Joseph Kabila. After two years, he shattered it and asserted himself as the sole leader on board. His political skill was surprising. The “son of” had a first name for himself.
The young years of Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, born June 13, 1963, were marked by the fight of Étienne Tshisekedi. At 19, the third in a family of five children, he followed his father relegated by the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko (1965-1997) to his village in Kasai.
At the age of 22, “Fatshi”, his mother and his brothers went into exile in Belgium, a country that he considered his “second Congo”, where he notably followed training in marketing and communication.
In the shadow of his father figure, he rose through the ranks of the opposition party Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS).
In 2011, he was elected deputy in Mbuji-Mayi, capital of Kasai. And in 2018, he was appointed, unsurprisingly, president and candidate of the party founded by his father.
At the presidency, his visitors discover a man with a courteous, friendly approach, a good listener and a measured voice. He is known as a bon vivant, too much so in the opinion of detractors who consider him a night owl giving a poor image of his role as head of state.
Father of a family, he is married to Denise Nyakeru, with whom he presented his wishes to the Congolese for Christmas and for 2024, evoking in his message young people, employment, purchasing power…