Rwanda sets July election date for presidential and parliamentary polls

Rwanda will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in July next year, when President Paul Kagame will seek to extend his three decades in control of the East African country. 

Rwanda President Paul Kagame casting his vote in Rwanda's capital Kigali, in 2017. REUTERS

A presidential order in the official gazette said voting for president and 53 deputies in the lower house of parliament would happen across the country on 15 July, and the remaining 27 deputies would be elected on 16 July.

A proposal by Kagame to allow the presidential and parliamentary elections to be held together was approved by the cabinet in March.

 "Throughout the country, the polling date for the president of the republic and 53 deputies elected from a list proposed by political organisations or for independent candidates is Monday, 15 July 2024," the National Electoral Commission said on social media.

Candidates will be allowed to campaign from 22 June until 12 July, the election commission added.

Twenty-four women MPs, two youth representatives and a representative for disabled Rwandans will be chosen by electoral colleges and committees on 16 July.

Hatangajwe itariki y’amatora ya Perezida
== #GushimaPK
Amatora ya Perezida wa Repubulika yamaze kwemezwa ko azabera rimwe n’ay’Abadepite ateganyijwe umwaka utaha ku wa 15 Nyakanga 2024.

Ku banyarwanda batorera hanze y’u Rwanda amatora azaba mbere yaho ku wa 14 Nyakanga 2024. pic.twitter.com/XHMi3GGpRL

— 🇷🇼𝐌𝐔𝐙𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐖𝐔𝐁𝐀𝐊𝐄🇷🇼 (@Muzeturwubake) December 12, 2023

Potential new term for Kagame

Kagame has been president since 2000 but effectively in control since his rebel force marched into Kigali in 1994 to end the Rwandan genocide, which led to the death of some 800,000 people, mainly Tutsi but also moderate Hutus, between April and July 1994.

The 66-year-old has ruled over the landlocked African nation with an iron fist.

He was reelected with more than 90 percent of the vote in elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017.

In September, he told the Jeune Afrique magazine he would seek re-election, adding he was happy with Rwandans' confidence in him.

He is eligible to continue in office for another decade, after a constitutional amendment in 2015 changed term limits.

This move could allow him to stay in power until 2034.

For the presidential bid, Kagame's only known challenger in the polls is for now opposition Green Party leader Frank Habineza, who announced his intention to run in May.

International acclaim and critics

Kagame has won international acclaim for presiding over peace and economic growth since the end of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

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But Kagame has faced mounting criticism for what human rights groups say are the suppression of political opposition and the muzzling of independent media.

• Rights group accuses Rwanda of threatening, killing critics abroad

The United States in 2015 criticised the constitutional change, saying Kagame should step down when his term ended and allow a new generation of leaders to come through.

Rwanda was also ranked 131 out of 180 countries in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

In 2021, "Hotel Rwanda" hero and outspoken Kagame critic Paul Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years in jail on terrorism charges.

Freed from jail in March this year and flown to the United States following a presidential pardon, Rusesabagina released a video message in July, saying that Rwandans were "prisoners in their own country".

Most of his opponents, even within his party, the RPF, have over the years been imprisoned, killed or have fled into exile. 

Kagame rejects those accusations, and said he was not bothered by criticism from Western countries.

 (with newswires)