Rwanda elections: Paul Kagame seeks fourth term as president

Rwanda’s President Pol Kagame, feared and admired in equal measure, is seeking to extend his 24-year rule as poll analysts say he will win a landslide.

Since assuming the presidency in 2000, he has dominated every election with 90% of the vote. In 2017, he won with 99% of the votes.

Mr Kagame, 66, is facing off against two rivals who have been approved to run – other candidates have been blocked by the state-run electoral commission.

President Kagame has been at the helm of Rwandan politics since his rebel forces seized power at the end of the 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Since then, he has been praised for overseeing the country’s dramatic renaissance and unifying the country.

“Rwanda was basically written off 30 years ago – but thanks in part to the leadership of Kagame and his ruling party, Rwanda has managed to build some stability,” Dr Felix Ndahinda, a scholar of the Great Lakes region, told the BBC.

But his critics have accused Mr Kagame of not allowing any opposition – to the point of plotting cross-border massacres of dissidents.

Mr Kagame has always staunchly defended Rwanda’s record on human rights, saying his country values ​​political freedoms.

But one analyst told the BBC the election was just a “formality”.

According to the Election Commission, about nine million people are registered to vote, and at least two million are first-time voters.

A provisional winner should be known by Tuesday morning.

Voters will elect the president and 53 members of the lower house of parliament on Monday, while 27 MPs will be elected the following day.

“I’m really excited to vote for my first time, I can’t wait,” Silvia Mudoni told the BBC.

For most young people in Rwanda, Mr Kagame is the only leader they know.

He was the de facto head of the country from 1994 to 2000 as Vice President and Defense Minister, and has been President since 2000.

Two opposition candidates – Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party and independent Philip Mbayimana – both ran in the 2017 election, where they received less than 1% of the vote.

“I believe democracy is a process,” Mr Habineza told the BBC Focus on Africa podcast.

“People are still afraid to express their views. I am fighting for freedom of speech, freedom of media,” he said.

And some Rwandans listen to him. One voter told the BBC that he would not vote for the current president.

Celestine Mutuesu, 28, supported Mr Kagame but was sidelined by Mr Habineza in this election.

“He’s said great things about fighting unemployment, and he’s got me,” he said.

But defeating President Kagame may be difficult.

Diane Ruwikara, who has been a vocal critic of the president, was barred from contesting the election. He was disqualified in 2017.

“Rwanda is portrayed as a country with a growing economy. But on the ground, it’s different. People don’t have the basics like life, food, water, shelter,” he told the BBC.

The Election Commission said he had failed to provide the correct documents.

Although the country continues to struggle with high youth unemployment rates, it is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa.

Mr Kagame is credited with Rwanda’s remarkable economic transformation and stability over the past three decades.

Rwanda is known worldwide for its clean capital and has the world’s highest number of female parliamentarians, at 61%.

Rwanda, Inc. In a book by American authors Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond, they describe Mr Kagame as a corporate CEO rather than a political leader because of his “drive for excellence” in every sector of the country.

He is also a shrewd politician.

Although often critical of the West, he tries to cultivate useful allies – for example, by working with the UK on a now-abandoned plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Rwanda is building its soft power on the international stage, building its appeal through sports, culture and entertainment.

But Mr Kagame’s diplomacy also has a more difficult side.

Rwanda did not deny the accusation and told the BBC that the DR Congo government lacked the political will to resolve the crisis in its mineral-rich east, which has witnessed decades of unrest.

Mr Kagame pledged on the campaign trail to protect Rwanda from “external aggression” amid tensions with neighboring DR Congo and Burundi.