Cablegate: Parliamentary Update: Drc National Assembly

VZCZCXRO4652
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1928 3611419
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271419Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5350
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001928

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENTARY UPDATE: DRC NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
DEBATES NEW LEADERSHIP

REF: KINSHASA 1895

1. (SBU) Summary: The DRC's new National Assembly will elect
its new leadership ("Permanent Bureau") by December 28.
Vital Kamerhe is expected to be elected the assembly's
president. Election of the new parliamentary leadership
should be closely followed by the announcement of the prime
minister and the subsequent naming of a new cabinet. End
summary.

2. (U) The DRC's National Assembly continues its
deliberations regarding key commissions (reftel), and is also
expected to elect its new leaders by December 28. A total of
32 candidates -- representing President Kabila's majority
Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP), Jean-Pierre
Bemba's Union for the Nation (UfN) coalition, and the Rally
for Congolese Democracy (RCD) -- have been registered for the
seven senior leadership positions.

3. (U) The two AMP candidates for the position of the
assembly's president are Vital Kamerhe, Secretary General of
the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD)
and Gilbert Tshiongo Tshibikuubula wa Ntumba, former governor
of Western Kasai province. Vital Kamerhe, elected as a
deputy to the National Assembly from Bukavu, claims to have
Kabila's support and is already being dubbed "the virtual
president" of the assembly in the local press.

4. (SBU) The next steps after election of the National
Assembly leadership will be announcement of the prime
minister and then the cabinet. While it is still possible
that the prime minister could be named before the New Year,
internal wrangling in the AMP coalition over key cabinet
positions could delay an announcement.
DOUGHERTY

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