Constitution of Zaire
The Constitution of Zaire (French: Constitution du Zaïre), was promulgated on 15 August 1974, revised on 15 February 1978, and amended on 5 July 1990. It provided a renewed legal basis for the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko who had emerged as the country's dictator after the Congo Crisis in 1965.
Defining state power as an extension of Mobutu's power, the 1974 constitution codified Zaire as a one-party state with the Popular Movement of the Revolution as the only legally permitted party. It enshrined the status of Mobutism as the state ideology.[1] The 1974 constitution was the third in the Congo's post-independence history, replacing earlier constitutions adopted to replace the original basic law of 1960, adopted in 1964 and 1967.[2][3]
According to academics
Under the provisions of the Constitution, the MPR was recognised as Zaire's only "institution" and its president as
The 1974 constitution remained in force, with some subsequent modifications, until the collapse of the Mobutu regime during the First Congo War. In 1994, the first of two Transitional Constitutions were adopted; the current Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was adopted in 2006.[9]
References
- ^ Young & Turner 1985, p. 64.
- ^ Young & Turner 1985, p. 41.
- ^ Historical Dictionary of the DRC 2010, pp. 110–1.
- ^ a b Young & Turner 1985, pp. 63–4.
- ^ a b Young & Turner 1985, p. 69.
- ^ a b Young & Turner 1985, p. 70.
- ^ West Africa 1988, p. 521.
- ^ Historical Dictionary of the DRC 2010, p. 112.
- ^ Historical Dictionary of the DRC 2010, p. 113.
Bibliography
- "Exiles turn fire on Mobutu". West Africa. No. 3673–3684. West Africa Publishing Company Limited. 21 March 1988.
- Kisangani, Emizet François; Bobb, F. Scott (2010). "Constitution". Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3rd ed.). London: Scarecrow Press. pp. 110–4. ISBN 978-0-8108-6325-5.
- ISBN 978-0-299-10113-8.
External links
- (in French) Text of the Constitution (1974) at Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques (University of Perpignan)
- (in English) Text of the Constitution (1990) at World Statesmen
- (in English) Zaire – Government and Politics at Country Data