Rwandans are set for presidential and parliamentary polls, with three candidates competing for the presidency, on Monday, July 15, 2024. Among them is President Paul Kagame, who is in the same race and vying for the fourth term in office.
Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party, who contested against Kagame in the 2017 polls and garnered less than 1% of the votes and two seats in parliament as Kagame won with 98.79%, has been identified by the Electoral Commission of Rwanda as another contender.
The Electoral Commission of Rwanda identified another presidential candidate, Philippe Mpayimana, who also participated in the 2017 race and scored less than 1%.
According to a local journal in Rwanda, Mpayimana works with the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement in Rwanda, and he has also worked with different publications as a journalist since 1990.
Preliminary information indicates that the Electoral Commission again barred Diane Rwigara from contesting during the 2024 elections for unknown reasons. In the 2017 elections, she was barred allegedly for forging the signatures of supporters and was later arrested and charged with forgery.
Rwigara is the daughter of Assinapol Rwigara, a critic of Kagame and his former ally and funder of the Rwandan Patriotic Front party.
The 66-year-old Kagame has been president since 1994, after the end of the genocide that claimed the lives of close to one million Rwandans, and has been winning with over 90% in the subsequent elections.
In 2015, the constitutional amendment removed the limit on the two consecutive 7-year terms and allowed Kagame to run for another two 5-year terms. The controversial constitutional amendment allows Kagame to rule until 2034, giving him a total of 40 years in power.
