Jean-Pierre Bemba has submitted papers in a bid to become one of 8 senators for the city of Kinshasa.
According to Thomas Luhaka, the executive secretary of Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo party, the submission was made on November 30, a few days after the decision by the Supreme Court confirming incumbent Joseph Kabila as the new president of the Democratic Republic of Congo after Bemba contested the results published by the Independent Electoral Commission.
Senatorial elections are due to be held next month when the newly elected members of the 26 provincial parliaments are scheduled to convene and elect 108 senators, 8 from Kinshasa and 4 each for the other 25 provinces.
Jean-Pierre Bemba is seen by many observers as the new leader of the political opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Union Nationale(UN), the alliance which supported his losing bid to the presidential elections, is only second in the national parliament in number of MPs to the Alliance pour la Majorité Présidentielle(AMP), which supported Joseph Kabila in the same elections.
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