Political activity was sharply restricted during the colonial period, but several dozen political parties had sprung into existence by early 1960, most of them small and based on local or ethnic organizations. Only the National Congolese Movement (Mouvement National Congolais—MNC) led by Patrice Lumumba entered the May 1960 elections and emerged with an effective national organization. Although the MNC captured only 30% of the popular vote, it formed alliances with two regional parties and controlled 64 of the 137 seats in the House of Representatives.
The national government subsequently organized in June 1960, however, won the backing of a much broader (although less cohesive) coalition which included, among others, Joseph Kasavubu's Bakongo Alliance (Alliance des Bakongo—ABAKO), the largest of the ethnic parties. Kasavubu became the country's head of state and in September 1960 ousted Lumumba. After Tshombe's accession to the post of prime minister in 1964, national and provincial elections were scheduled. In a rather belated effort to organize national support for his policies, Tshombe persuaded some 40-odd local formations to go to the polls under the hastily improvised label of the National Congolese Convention (Convention Nationale Congolaise—CONACO). The elections, held in March–April 1965, gave CONACO 106 of the 166 seats in the lower house of the legislature. Kasavubu's subsequent dismissal of Tshombe in October 1965 and the failure of his handpicked successor, Evariste Kimba, to secure majority support in the CONACO-controlled lower house led to a complete stalemate, which was finally resolved only by Mobutu's seizure of power on 25 November 1965.
The new regime initially suspended all political parties, but in April 1967, Mobutu created the Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution—MPR) in order to develop a political base for his regime. The constitution promulgated in June 1967 provided for the existence of "no more than two" political parties. However, all attempts to organize an opposition party to the MPR were summarily repressed, and the facade of bipartisanship was officially abandoned on 23 December 1970 when a constitutional amendment formally transformed the country into a single-party state. The chairman of the MPR held the office of head of state and head of the government after approval by the voters. Party and state were effectively one, and every citizen was automatically a member of the MPR. Of the four exiled opposition groups headquartered in Brussels, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la Démocratie et du Progrès Social—UDPS) appeared to be the most significant.
The constitution was amended to permit party activity in April 1990. By the time the National Conference was called in September 1991, more than 200 parties had emerged. Half of them belonged to the mouvence présidentielle but had no popular basis. The most important opposition parties formed a coalition known as the Sacred Union. These included the UDPS, the Union of Federalists and Independent Republicans (UFERI), the Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU) of Antoine Gizenga, and the Social Democratic Christian Party (PDSC). UFERI was later pried away from the Sacred Union by Mobutu's offer of the prime ministership to UFERI's Nguza Karl-I-Bond in November 1991.
In 1997, President Kabila outlawed all political parties and party activities until at least 1999 when elections were promised. However, party leaders such as Zahidi Ngoma (Les Forces du Future), and Olenghakoy (FONUS), who were previously jailed, did participate in the Clergy-sponsored "Consultation Nationale" to discuss national issues. In April 2000, Tshisikedi of the UDPS traveled to the United States and Europe, signaling perhaps a thawing in the provisional ban on party activities. In 2003, prospects for political parties in the DROC were unsettled, at least until elections could be organized in 2005 according to provisions of the Pretoria agreement.