DRC Constitutional Court Clarifies Scope of Referendum Law

The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo issued a ruling interpreting the referendum law and Article 5 of the Constitution. The court distinguished national sovereignty, which belongs to the people and is exercised directly through referendums or elections, from popular sovereignty, defining the former as the power to determine the nation’s legal order and the latter as the expression of the electorate within that framework.

The judges limited the scope of a referendum to specific constitutional matters such as relocation of the capital (Article 2‑3), territory exchange or cession (Article 214), and constitutional revision, while acknowledging that other issues may be added if they stem from the people’s constituent power. Professor Paul Gaspard Ngondankoy, the initiator of the original referendum bill, said he was satisfied with the court’s interpretation, noting that it aligns with his original intent to ground referenda in precise constitutional provisions.

The decision also affirmed that the people retain an unlimited original constituent power to create, amend, or revoke the legal order, and that elected representatives may exercise this power only within the bounds of a referendum.