In the Republic of Congo, three opposition parties have gathered for their first convention as a coalition to lay out their objectives ahead of the elections in 2026 in an effort to remove President Denis Nguesso, who has held office since 1997.
The Movement of Republicans, the People’s Party, and the Democracy and Development party of former president Jacques Joachim Yhomby Opango make up the Alliance for Democratic Alternation in 2026 (2AD2026), whose members gathered on Sunday.
The parties have support from the general public but no parliamentary representation.
“This work enabled us to adopt the texts and above all to set ourselves short-, medium- and long-term objectives,” said Destin Gavet, 2AD2026’s first president and a Movement of Republicans member.
Gavet stated that a number of proposals were also made to address the issue of political prisoners, including those for André Okombi Salissa and Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko.
“The release of political prisoners can be a way to ease the political climate and above all to promote social cohesion and national unity,” he said.
After the 2016 elections, both opposition figures were convicted guilty of impairing internal state security. when those elections, violence broke out, killing 17 people when the opposition claimed Nguesso, who received 67 percent of the vote, had rigged the results.
The opposition coalition was established in April with the intention of changing the Nguesso-dominated political climate.
The president, who is 80 years old, plans to seek for a fifth term. In addition, he served as president from 1979 until 1991, losing the election in 1992 before winning it back five years later.
