Presidential election whose holding is imminent must no longer divide us as in the past. We unanimously decided not to take part, either directly or through an intermediary candidate, ”declared Pascal Tsaty Mabiala, UPADS first secretary after a party council session. Thus, the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS), the first opposition formation in Congo-Brazzaville, will not take part in the presidential election of March 21 where the outgoing president Denis Sassou Nguesso, 77 years old, including 36 in power, is on track for a new term.
The party of ex-president Lissouba who died in France last August
UPS is the only opposition formation to currently have a parliamentary group in the National Assembly. Pascal Lissouba and his party won the first pluralist election organized in the country in 1992 against Denis Sassou Nguesso, one of the rare democratic alternations in Central Africa. He had lost power at the end of a civil war in 1997 against the forces of Denis Sassou Nguesso supported by Angolan troops.
Since 2002, the Congo has organized elections, all won by Mr. Sassou Nguesso and regularly contested by the opposition. The former chief of staff, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, and ex-minister André Okombi Salissa did not recognize his victory in 2016. They were arrested, tried and sentenced to 20 years of work forced in 2018 for “undermining the internal security of the State and illegal possession of weapons of war”.
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