As Tshisekedi is dependent on his coalition, he had to compete for other key offices for his party through complex, time consuming negotiations, taking five months to form a government.

Voting was further disrupted by missing voter lists and other essential paperwork, broken or absent machinery, delayed openings of polling stations, and intimidation by security forces or individuals acting on behalf of candidates.

The opposition called for a rerun of the presidential election but did not take their case to the Constitutional Court, which they see as lacking independence, instead urging street protests that failed to gain momentum.

President Félix Tshisekedi's election in 2018 was extremely controversial, with most independent observers, including the Catholic Church, believing that opposition candidate Martin Fayulu had actually won in a landslide.

[6] According to Jacques Mukena, Senior Governance Researcher at Ebuteli Institute, the election will most likely not be completely free and fair, but believes Tshisekedi and CENI are aware of the fact that they would be under closer scrutiny than in 2018 because more local and international observers would be watching.

More recently, violence surged in the region after a new rebellion by the M23 group, supported by Rwanda, caused much of the North Kivu province to be occupied by rebels.

[9] With the possibility of over a million voters being disenfranchised from instability, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has proposed sending a regional intervention force into eastern DRC to try to stabilise the area.

[6] According to the Institute for Security Studies, it's hard to imagine the mission could go in and suppress all of eastern DRC's many armed rebel groups in time to enfranchise those voters.

Nevertheless, a survey conducted by GeoPoll Socio-Political Barometer in the second quarter of 2023 found that voters expressed significant discontent with the governance under Tshisekedi, assigning him a satisfaction rating of 49.7%.

[6][26] An earlier 2022 poll by the same group found unemployment and insecurity to be the most cited dysfunctional areas, closely followed by the state of the country's roads and rising prices.

The murder, described by Katumbi as a "political assassination," led to legal action by Senga's relatives in Brussels, accusing the head of the DRC's military intelligence of involvement.

Various logistical issues further compounded the situation, including the late arrival of materials, malfunctioning voting machines, failed batteries intended to sustain their operation, and instances of lost ballot papers.

[34] According to Schadrack Mukad, an adjunct executive national secretary of the Civil Society Organization for Peace in Congo, which deployed 75,000 observers during the vote, "there were cases of machines that were seized by certain candidates and others by certain agents of CENI outside voting places.” He expressed concern about the involvement of certain politico-administrative authorities and electoral candidates, who he says diverted CENI agents away from polling stations for a significant duration.

[35] According to Nicolas Niarchos, in his piece for The New York Review of Books, CENI's polling station data, "although impressive in detail", showed "strange" results.

[34] Tafi Mhaka, in an opinion piece for Aljazeera, described the elections as "shambolic," calling for the Southern African Development Community to uphold electoral standards in every single member country.

[36] Alternatively, Albert Kasanda, in his piece for The Conversation, partially attributes the opposition's failure to unite behind a single candidate and their campaign strategies, compared to Tshisekedi, who had the backing of major political figures which provided him a broad territorial network and a foothold in various regions of the country.

[5] Prominent opposition figure Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy and his coalition, the Common Front for Congo (FFC), just like with the presidential election, did not partake in the electoral process, citing unmet demands such as representation of the FCC within CENI, an independent, balanced constitutional court, a consensual electoral law that guarantees greater transparency, security for opposition members, and the restoration of security in the eastern part of the DRC as well as in the province of Mai-Ndombe.

This includes 177 constituencies, as the results of Masimanimba in Kwilu and Yakoma in Nord-Ubangi were annulled for fraud, and in the territories of Masisi and Rutshuru in North Kivu and Kwamouth in Maï-Ndombe, elections were not held due to the activism of armed groups.

[42][43][44] After CENI invalidated 82 candidates, the ruling UDPS/Tshisekedi party won the most seats, giving President Félix Tshisekedi a comfortable parliamentary majority.

[citation needed] Matata Ponyo Mapon, Constant Mutamba, Jean-Claude Baende and Adolphe Muzito, who also stood in the presidential election, were elected in Kindu, Lubao, Mbandaka and Kikwit respectively, while a large number of the president's allies, including the two presidents of the houses of parliament: Christophe Mboso and Bahati Lukuebo, Prime Minister Sama Lukonde, and the candidate deputy prime ministers Vital Kamerhe, Jean-Pierre Lihau and Christophe Lutundula, won their seats once again.

[45][46] On 6 January 2024, Katumbi released a statement disputing the results of the election on the grounds of "massive fraud and treachery" and calling for the resignation of Denis Kadima, the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission.