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Congolese Party of Labour

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Congolese Party of Labour
Parti congolais du travail
PresidentDenis Sassou Nguesso
Secretary-GeneralPierre Ngolo
FounderMarien Ngouabi
Founded29 December 1969 (1969-12-29)
Preceded byNational Movement of the Revolution
Headquarters5, rue Léon Jacob, Quartier Mpila, Brazzaville
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left
Historical:
Left-wing to far-left
ColoursRed
Senate
44 / 72
National Assembly
112 / 151
Party flag
Website
www.pct.cg

The Congolese Party of Labour (French: Parti congolais du travail, PCT) is the ruling party of the Republic of the Congo. Founded in 1969 by Marien Ngouabi, it was originally a pro-Soviet, Marxist–Leninist vanguard party which founded the People's Republic of the Congo. It took a more moderate left-wing stance following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and adopted social democracy as its principal ideology in 2006. Denis Sassou Nguesso is the President of the PCT Central Committee, and Pierre Moussa is the Secretary-General of the PCT.

One-party rule

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See also: People's Republic of the Congo

The PCT was founded by President Marien Ngouabi on 29 December 1969, and was Congo-Brazzaville's sole ruling party from its inception. From the outset, it was heavily dominated by military officers from the sparsely populated north of Congo-Brazzaville. Although the PCT regime was designed as a Soviet-style socialist one-party state, it was essentially a military regime with a strongly ethno-regional character. Members of the southern ethnic groups, who were far more numerous than northerners, were included in the power structure, but the top leaders were consistently northerners.

Ideologically, the party represented a spectrum of Marxist–Leninist views and suffered from internecine struggles in the 1970s, which sometimes turned violent. Some leaders on the left-wing of the party, such as Ange Diawara and Claude-Ernest Ndalla, favored a radical pro-Chinese position; they unsuccessfully attempted a coup d'etat against Ngouabi in February 1972. The right wing of the party, which was derided as having only a superficial commitment to Marxism–Leninism, was represented by Joachim Yhombi Opango; the 1972 plot was inspired by the left wing's loathing for Yhombi Opango.

Ngouabi was assassinated under unclear circumstances in March 1977 and succeeded by Yhombi Opango, whose opponents in the PCT were angered by his rightist deviationism and perceived marginalization of the party, and they ousted him in a February 1979 technical coup, installing Denis Sassou Nguesso—another career officer from the north—in power. The elevation of Sassou Nguesso, who represented the PCT's left-wing, marked a return to party orthodoxy. Sassou Nguesso was neither a radical leftist nor an ideologue; his policies were generally marked by pragmatism, and he sought warm relations with the West as well as the Eastern Bloc.

As Sassou Nguesso consolidated power, PCT factionalism was less pronounced during the 1980s, although internal power struggles continued. Jean-Pierre Thystère Tchicaya, a leftist ideologue who was one of the PCT's top-ranking leaders, was accused of organizing a bomb plot and removed from the leadership at the 1984 party congress. A powerful faction in the party, led by François-Xavier Katali, favored a hard-line pro-Soviet position; Sassou Nguesso was able to marginalize the Katali faction at the 1984 congress.[1] Katali was demoted to a minor government ministry, but suffered no further punishment; when he died of a heart attack in 1986, he was considered a national hero.

Serious unrest in 1990 resulted in the collapse of the PCT regime. Sassou Nguesso was forced to introduce multi-party politics in 1990 and then call a National Conference in 1991. The National Conference saw severe criticism of Sassou Nguesso and repudiated PCT rule; it set up a non-PCT transitional government and reduced Sassou Nguesso to figurehead status.

Multi-party era

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The PCT was in opposition from 1992 to 1997, during the presidency of Pascal Lissouba. Although Marxist–Leninist ideology was abandoned, the party remained loyal to Sassou Nguesso and it continued to be dominated by key figures from the one-party era. Sassou Nguesso ultimately returned to power in the June–October 1997 civil war.

Denis Sassou Nguesso, presidential candidate of both the PCT and the United Democratic Forces coalition, won the March 2002 presidential election with 89.4% of the vote; there were no serious opposition candidates. The PCT won 53 out of 137 seats in the National Assembly in the May–June 2002 parliamentary election; together with smaller, allied parties, it held a parliamentary majority.

At the party's Fifth Extraordinary Congress in December 2006, Sassou-Nguesso was re-elected as President of the Central Committee of the PCT and Ambroise Noumazalaye was re-elected as Secretary-General of the PCT;[2][3] the Central Committee elected at the 2006 congress included more than 500 members (there were previously less than 150 members), while the Political Bureau elected on the same occasion included more than 60 members and the Permanent Secretariat included 15 members.[2] Social democracy was also adopted as the party's new principal ideology.[4]

The political landscape in Congo-Brazzaville has been highly fractured since the early 1990s. In an effort to consolidate support for Sassou Nguesso, an initiative to "refound" the PCT as a broader party was attempted in 2006. Although backed by Secretary-General Noumazalaye, the effort encountered firm opposition from PCT "conservatives", led by Justin Lekoundzou, who wanted to preserve the PCT as a distinct party.

Noumazalaye died in November 2007,[5] and Prime Minister Isidore Mvouba became Interim Secretary-General of the PCT.[6]

In the parliamentary election held on 24 June and 5 August 2007, the PCT won 46 seats; although it was again the largest party, the fractionalization of the political landscape ensured that it fell well short of a parliamentary majority. The combined parties of the Presidential Majority supporting Sassou Nguesso won an overwhelming majority: 125 out of 137 seats. After the election, a large grouping of parties, including the PCT, was launched in December 2007: the Rally of the Presidential Majority (RMP). While the member parties of the RMP preserved their distinct identities, the grouping provided for some degree of consolidation and improved organization among Sassou Nguesso's supporters. In the 2008 local elections, the RMP parties ran joint candidate lists.

At the PCT's Sixth Extraordinary Congress, held in Brazzaville in July 2011, Pierre Ngolo was elected as Secretary-General of the PCT.[7][8][9] His election as Secretary-General was considered surprising.[9][10] It had been widely expected that the post would go to a more prominent figure, but Sassou Nguesso chose Ngolo, reportedly viewing him as a skilled organizer and as relatively uncontroversial. He was reportedly viewed as a "man of compromise": "an open conservative, anxious to preserve the identity of the party, while understanding the need for change".[10]

In the July–August 2012 parliamentary election, the PCT won a parliamentary majority for the first time in the multiparty era, obtaining 89 out of 139 seats.[11][12] The party has since remained the largest in the National Assembly, increasing its share of seats both in the 2017 and 2022 parliamentary elections.

Membership

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The party had about 70,000 members in 1990; by 2005, it had about 250,000 members.[2]

Electoral history

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Presidential elections

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Election Candidate First round Second round Results
Votes % Votes %
1992 Denis Sassou-Nguesso 131,346 16.75% — Lost Red XN
2002 1,075,247 89.41% — Elected Green tickY
2009 1,055,117 78.61% — Elected Green tickY
2016 838,922 60.19% — Elected Green tickY
2021 1,539,725 88.40% — Elected Green tickY

National Assembly elections

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Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Result
1973 Marien Ngouabi 375,382 100%
115 / 115
 Increase 115 Increase 1st Sole legal party
1979 Denis Sassou Nguesso 725,981 100%
153 / 153
 Increase 38 Steady 1st Sole legal party
1984 853,168 100%
153 / 153
 Steady Steady 1st Sole legal party
1989 870,460 100%
133 / 133
 Decrease 20 Steady 1st Sole legal party
1992
18 / 125
 Decrease 115 Decrease 3rd Opposition
1993
15 / 101
 Decrease 2 Steady 3rd Opposition
2002
53 / 137
 Increase 38 Increase 1st PCT–FDU coalition government
2007
47 / 137
 Decrease 6 Steady 1st PCT–Club 2002–MCDDI–MSD–

UPDP–MAR–AGIR coalition government

2012
89 / 139
 Increase 42 Steady 1st PCT-MCDDI-RDPS-MAR-RC-

UFD-UR-Club 2002 coalition government

2017
96 / 151
 Increase 7 Steady 1st PCT–MAR-RDPS-RC-PRL-

Club 2002-UFD coalition government

2022
112 / 151
 Increase 16 Steady 1st PCT–MAR-Club 2002–RDPS coalition government

Notable members

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References

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  1. ^ "President wins decisive victory over pro-Soviets", Africa Confidential, 17 October 1984, pages 1–3.
  2. ^ a b c Emmanuel Mbengue, "La direction du Parti Congolais du Travail s'ouvre aux jeunes et aux femmes" Archived 23 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 30 December 2006 (in French).
  3. ^ Willy Mbossa, "Denis Sassou Nguesso reconduit à la tête du comité central du Parti congolais du travail" Archived 8 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 30 December 2006 (in French).
  4. ^ "LA SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIE: Nouvelle Doctrine du Parti Congolais du Travail" (in French). Congolese Party of Labour. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Le président du Sénat, Ambroise Edouard Noumazalay est décédé à Paris" Archived 8 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 18 November 2007 (in French).
  6. ^ "La dépouille mortelle du président du Sénat attendue le 23 novembre à Brazzaville" Archived 8 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 22 November 2007 (in French).
  7. ^ "À Brazzaville, le Parti congolais du travail à la recherche d'un second souffle", Jeune Afrique, 25 July 2011 (in French).
  8. ^ Roger Ngombé, "Vie des partis : Pierre Ngolo élu secrétaire général du Parti congolais du travail", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 26 July 2011 (in French).
  9. ^ a b Joël Nsoni, "Denis Sassou Nguesso aux congressistes du P.c.t : «Les élections ne se gagnent pas dans les bureaux. Elles se gagnent sur le terrain»", La Semaine Africaine, 30 July 2011 (in French).
  10. ^ a b "Congo : la surprise Pierre Ngolo", Jeune Afrique, 1 September 2011 (in French).
  11. ^ "Congo ruling party wins majority in parliament", AFP, 7 August 2012.
  12. ^ "Élections législatives – PCT 89 sièges, Indépendants 12, Upads 7, MCDDI 7, autres partis 20" Archived 2 January 2013 at archive.today, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 9 August 2012 (in French).
  13. ^ "Elections législatives : les 51 élus du premier tour", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 5 June 2002 (in French).
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