The 2005 Constitutional Referendum in the Democratic Republic of Congo

More than forty years elapsed between the Democratic Republic of Congo's democratic poll in 1960 upon gaining independence from Belgium and the country's constitutional referendum of 18-19 December 2005, in which 84% of the voters endorsed a new 229-article constitution. The referendum represented a major turning point for Africa's largest civil war, which claimed more than 3.5 million lives since 1998, left 3.4 million internally displaced, and forced 443,000 refugees into asylum in nine bordering nations. With the nation's sovereignty at stake and the transitional government's mandate expiring in June 2006, DR Congo's transitional President Joseph Kabila urged the populace to support the new constitution, warning that rejection of it would be "catastrophic." This paper examines the process of the constitutional referendum, from drafting the constitution to voter results, and discusses key issues related to refugees, women's political rights, and citizenship