List of presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo explained

This is a list of presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly the Republic of the Congo and Zaire) since the country's independence in 1960.

The current President is Félix Tshisekedi, since 24 January 2019.^[1]

List of officeholders

Political parties

Other affiliations

Symbols Elected unopposed

Status

	Portrait	Name	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
Republic of the Congo (1960–1971)
		Joseph Kasa-Vubu	1960	1 July 1960	24 November 1965		ABAKO
		Joseph-Désiré Mobutu	—	24 November 1965	27 October 1971[2]		Military
							MPR
Republic of Zaire (1971–1997)
		Mobutu Sese Seko		27 October 1971	16 May 1997 [3]		MPR
Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997–present)
		Laurent-Désiré Kabila	—	17 May 1997	16 January 2001		Independent AFDL
		Joseph Kabila	—	17 January 2001	26 January 2001		Independent
			2006 2011	17 January 2001	24 January 2019		PPRD
		Félix Tshisekedi	2018 2023	24 January 2019	Incumbent		UDPS

Rank by time in office

Rank	President	Time in office
1	Mobutu Sese Seko
2	Joseph Kabila
3	Félix Tshisekedi
4	Joseph Kasa-Vubu
5	Laurent-Désiré Kabila

See also

• Politics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • List of prime ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• List of colonial governors of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo

External links

• Official website of the President of the DRC
• World Statesmen – Congo (Kinshasa)

Notes and References

1. News: Makumeno . Emery . December 31, 2023 . DR Congo election: President Felix Tshisekedi declared landslide winner . BBC . December 31, 2023.
2. News: Congo Changes Name To the Zaire Republic . 28 October 1971 . 15 April 2022 . Reuters . New York Times.
3. News: MOBUTU GIVES UP, LEAVING KINSHASA AND CEDING POWER . 17 May 1997 . 10 October 2022 . . New York Times.