Joseph Kabila was re-elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the November 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections, which were widely condemned as neither free nor fair and were marred by widespread intimidation and violence – much of it perpetrated by state security services. The lack of a genuine mandate has increased the political tension in the country and the pressure on Kabila, who has run the Congo since 2001, following the assassination of his father, former president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
