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.

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.

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.

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.

[5] 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.

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.

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.

[13][14] 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.