Kinshasa, DR Congo (AFP) – Congolese opposition parties on Wednesday called on the population to protest against possible plans by President Felix Tshisekedi to alter the constitution.

Democractic Republic of Congo’s ruling party in October called on its members to work towards a constitutional reform, and the opposition is fearing the change could extend Tshisekedi’s term in power.

“Congolese people, this is a serious situation, wake up! Let us defend our rights and our sovereignty,” said Devos Kitoko, secretary general of the party of one of the main opposition figures, Martin Fayulu.

“Citizen demonstrations throughout the country and in the diaspora will be organised in the coming days to defend our constitution and block the path of Mr. Felix Tshisekedi,” a joint declaration from opposition parties said.

“No change of constitution, no third term for Mr. Tshisekedi or anyone else, no presidency for life in the DRC,” the statement said.

Tshisekedi in October also announced plans to set up a commission to examine the constitution.

This commission would be “responsible for developing a constitution adapted to our Congolese realities and which will no longer hamper the functioning of the country”, the president said.

The declaration said plans to change the constitution are “totally unjustified, inopportune, illegal (and) unconstitutional”.

The Congolese population voted for the current constitution by referendum in 2006, and it was partially revised in 2011.

The current legislation limits the president to two five-year terms in office.

Changes to the constitution must be voted in by referendum or by 60 percent of the members of parliament.

The 61-year-old incumbent president was re-elected for a second mandate of five years in December, although the opposition contested the result.

Protests broke out in 2015 in the DRC’s capital Kinshasa and in the eastern city of Goma, against a proposed electoral law likely to have allowed then-president Joseph Kabila to hold on to power beyond two terms.

The unrest left dozens dead and Kabila ultimately did not run in the 2018 presidential election.