{"id":31594,"date":"2024-07-15T20:01:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T20:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/?p=31594"},"modified":"2024-07-15T20:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T20:01:05","slug":"rwanda-goes-to-polls-as-paul-kagame-set-to-extend-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/2024\/07\/15\/rwanda-goes-to-polls-as-paul-kagame-set-to-extend-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda goes to polls as Paul Kagame set to extend rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Desk report: <\/strong>Rwandans began voting in presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday, with the African nation\u2019s leader Paul Kagame set to extend his iron-fisted rule for another five years.<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The lineup is a carbon copy of the last election in 2017, when Kagame obliterated his rivals with almost 99 per cent of the vote, and there is little doubt about the outcome this year.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With 65 per cent of the population aged under 30, Kagame \u2014 who is running for a fourth term \u2014 is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known.<\/p>\n

The 66-year-old is credited with rebuilding a traumatised nation after the genocide unleashed by Hutu extremists that killed around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates.<\/p>\n

But rights groups accused his regime of stifling the media and political opposition with arbitrary detentions, killings and enforced disappearances.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Polls opened around 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and counting will begin as soon as they close at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), with partial results expected to be released as tallying progresses.<\/p>\n

Janvier Munyamundu, a 42-year-old driver, lined up before dawn to cast his vote in Kigali.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m very happy that I have voted,\u2019 he told AFP, adding: \u2018I have confidence that the person I voted for will win.\u2019<\/p>\n

Gatangaza Bwiza Nelly, 21, is among two million first-time voters in Monday\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n

The university student told AFP she had \u2018been waiting for this day anxiously.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It was very easy for me to choose my candidate. I knew who I would vote for,\u2019 she said, adding that she expected \u2018no cheating\u2019 in the polls.<\/p>\n

\u2018I believe that the results will be the same as the results in the previous election. It is quite obvious.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kagame won with more than 93 per cent of the vote in 2003, 2010 and 2017 \u2014 scoring 98.79 per cent in the most recent election, compared with just 0.48 per cent for Habineza and 0.73 per cent for Mpayimana.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Rwandan courts rejected appeals from prominent opposition figures Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire to remove previous convictions that effectively disqualified them from Monday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

The election commission also barred high-profile Kagame critic Diane Rwigara, citing issues with her paperwork \u2014 the second time she was excluded from running.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the election, Amnesty International said Rwanda\u2019s opposition faces \u2018severe restrictions\u2026 as well as threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution, trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances\u2019.<\/p>\n

The imbalance between Kagame and his rivals was evident during the three-week campaign, as the well-oiled PR machine of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) swung into high gear.<\/p>\n

Pennants on cars, flags, posters and banners displayed along roads, the red, white and blue colours of the ruling party and its slogans \u2018Tora Kagame Paul\u2019 (\u2018Vote Paul Kagame\u2019) and \u2018PK24\u2019 \u2018Paul Kagame 2024\u2019) are everywhere.<\/p>\n

While the World Bank says almost half the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, Kagame has overseen economic growth rates of an average of 7.2 per cent between 2012 and 2022.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the vast crowds attending Kagame\u2019s rallies, his rivals have struggled to make their voices heard, with barely 100 people showing up to some events.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s good to see that people are no longer afraid to listen to other candidates,\u2019 Mpayimana said, but added: \u2018We are facing a candidate who is too strong.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the parliamentary election, 589 candidates are chasing 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.<\/p>\n

Of those, 53 are elected by universal suffrage. The RPF currently holds 40 seats and its allies 11, while Habineza\u2019s party has two MPs.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Desk report: Rwandans began voting in presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday, with the African nation’s leader Paul Kagame set to 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 per cent of the vote, and there is little doubt about the outcome<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31596,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31594\/revisions\/31596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}