1970 Democratic Republic of the Congo parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 15 November 1970. Voters were presented with a single list from the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR), the party of President Joseph Mobutu. They only had the choice of voting "yes" or "no" to the list of 420 candidates for the National Assembly, who had been chosen from 2,500 applicants at the party's congress on 19 September 1970.[1] As with the presidential election earlier in the month, the voters approved the candidates with over 99% of the votes.

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Although a constitution enacted earlier that year allowed for the existence of a second party,[2] the MPR was the only party allowed to put up candidates. A month after the elections, the MPR was formally declared the only party legally permitted to function in the country.[3] with Law 70-001 of 23 December 1970 amending the text of article 4 of the constitution to state that "The Popular Movement of the Revolution is the sole political party of the Republic" (Le Mouvement populaire de la révolution est le seul parti politique de la République.).[4] The country was renamed Zaire a year later, and the MPR remained the only legal party until 1990.

Results

Choice Votes %
For9,691,13299.26
Against72,3780.74
Invalid/blank votes91,007
Total9,854,517100
Registered voters/turnout10,101,33097.56
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union

References

  1. Congo (Democratic Republic of) Inter-Parliamentary Union
  2. Constitution du 24 juin 1967 Digithèque MJP
  3. Irving Kaplan (1979) Zaire: A Country Study
  4. Loi n° 70-001 du 23 décembre 1970 portant révison de la Constitution Digithèque MJP
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