Rwanda votes as Paul Kagame set to extend rule

Millions of Rwandans were voting in presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday, with the African nation’s leader Paul Kagame widely expected 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.

University student Gatangaza Bwiza Nelly, among two million first-time voters, said she had “been waiting for this day anxiously.”

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“I believe that the results will be the same as the results in the previous election. It is quite obvious,” the 21-year-old told AFP after casting her ballot.

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.

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 population aged under 30, 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 traumatised nation after Hutu extremists unleashed a genocide targeting Tutsis.

The perpetrators killed around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates.

However, rights groups accused his regime of stifling the media and political opposition with arbitrary detentions, killings and forced disappearances.

Abroad, it faces allegations of stoking instability in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, where a UN report says Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels in the troubled east.

Kigali was also accused of killing tens of thousands of Hutus in the DRC during its pursuit of fleeing genocide perpetrators.

Discussion of these alleged massacres remains taboo and is considered genocide “revisionism” in Rwanda.

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– Millions registered to vote –

More than nine 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.

Polls close at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) and counting will begin immediately, with partial results expected to be released as tallying progresses.

Mariam Mukakaramba, a 47-year-old marriage counsellor, said she would vote “for development”, adding that Rwanda was “now in a good place”.

While the World Bank says almost half the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, GDP has grown by an average of 7.2 percent per year between 2012 and 2022.

– Opponents barred –

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 Monday’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.

Wearing a green shirt and sunglasses, Kagame cast his vote in Kigali around mid-day.

– ‘Free and fair’ –

The imbalance between the candidates was evident during the three-week campaign, as the well-oiled PR machine of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) swung into high gear.

The red, white and blue colours of the RPF and its slogans “Tora Kagame Paul” (“Vote Paul Kagame”) and “PK24” “Paul Kagame 2024”) are everywhere.

His rivals have struggled to make their voices heard, with barely 100 people showing up to some events.

Despite the lacklustre turnout at his rallies, opposition candidate Habineza hailed the “free and fair atmosphere”.

“This is a very good show of the level of growth in democracy in our country. We have been able to campaign the whole country,” he told AFP Monday.

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In the parliamentary election, 589 candidates are chasing 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

Of those, 53 are elected by universal suffrage. The RPF currently holds 40 seats and its allies 11, while Habineza’s party has two.

Another 24 spots are reserved for women, two for youths and one for people with disabilities. All candidates for these seats must be independent, and indirect elections will be held on Tuesday.

© Agence France-Presse