Polling stations opened across Rwanda yesterday for presidential and parliamentary elections, with Rwandan President Paul Kagame set to cruise to victory and extend his iron-fisted rule for another five years.
Rwanda’s de facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, Kagame faces only two challengers after several prominent critics were barred from standing.
The lineup is a carbon copy of the last election in 2017, when Kagame obliterated his rivals with almost 99 percent of the vote and there is little doubt about the outcome this year.
Photo: AFP
Frank Habineza, leader of the Democratic Green Party, and independent Philippe Mpayimana were the only two candidates approved to run against Kagame out of eight applicants.
With 65 percent of the nation’s population aged 30 or younger, Kagame — who is running for a fourth term — is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known.
The 66-year-old is credited with rebuilding a traumatized nation after the genocide unleashed by Hutu extremists that killed about 800,000 people, mainly Tutsi, but also Hutu moderates, but his regime is widely criticized by rights groups as autocratic, stifling the media and political opposition with arbitrary detentions, killings and enforced disappearances.
Abroad, it faces accusations of stoking instability in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a UN report says Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels in the troubled east.
More than 9 million Rwandans are registered to cast their ballot across 2,433 polling stations, with the presidential race being held at the same time as legislative elections for the first time.
Kagame won with more than 93 percent of the vote in 2003, 2010 and 2017 — scoring 98.79 percent in the most recent election, compared with just 0.48 percent for Habineza and 0.73 percent for Mpayimana.
He has overseen controversial constitutional amendments that shortened presidential terms from seven to five years and reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, allowing him to potentially rule until 2034.
Rwandan courts rejected appeals from prominent opposition figures Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire to remove previous convictions that effectively disqualified them from yesterday’s vote.
The election commission also barred high-profile Kagame critic Diane Rwigara, citing issues with her paperwork — the second time she was excluded from running.
Ahead of the election, Amnesty International said Rwanda’s opposition faces “severe restrictions ... as well as threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution, trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances.”
The imbalance between Kagame and his rivals was evident during the three-week campaign, as the well-oiled public relations machine of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) swung into high gear.
Despite his many critics, Kagame enjoys great support in Rwanda.
While the World Bank says almost half of the population lives on less than US$2.15 a day, Kagame has overseen economic growth rates of an average of 7.2 percent between 2012 and 2022, and the development of infrastructure.
“He has made great achievements, he has helped our children to go to school, increased the numbers of teachers, he also gave us health insurance,” Venantia Nyirangendo, 51, said during the final RPF rally on Saturday. “Without him in power, this country would collapse. It’s good that he is our leader, we all love him.”
In contrast to the vast crowds attending Kagame’s rallies, his rivals have struggled to make their voices heard, with barely 100 people showing up to some events.
“It’s good to see that people are no longer afraid to listen to other candidates, [but] we are facing a candidate who is too strong,” Mpayimana said.
In the parallel parliamentary election, more than 500 candidates are chasing 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
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