Rwandans will vote on Monday in the presidential and legislative elections, in which victory seems certain for the head of state Paul Kagame, who has led the country since the end of the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994, and his party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
Nine million Rwandans are called to the polls. The 2,433 polling stations opened around 7 a.m. (1 a.m. in Quebec) and will close at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. in Quebec).
The counting of votes will begin as soon as they close and partial results will be communicated as the count progresses, until the announcement of provisional results on July 20, a source within the electoral commission told AFP.
The final results will be announced on July 27.
But the scenario seems known in advance. The presidential election pits the same three candidates against each other as in 2017, when the outgoing head of state won with 98.79% of the vote against the leader of the only authorized opposition party, Frank Habineza (0.48%) and the independent Philippe Mpayimana (0.73%).
Mariam Mukakaramba, a 47-year-old marriage counselor, arrived early at a polling station in the capital Kigali to vote “for development.”
“I know in my heart who I will vote for because I know he is capable,” she told AFP, adding that Rwanda was “now in a good position.”
Gatangaza Bwiza Nelly, 21, is one of the two million people who will cast their ballot for the first time in these elections. The student says she has been “looking forward to this day.”
“I think the results will be the same as in the previous elections. It’s quite obvious,” she said.
Paul Kagame, 66, has held the reins of power since he overthrew the extremist Hutu government in July 1994, along with the RPF rebellion, which instigated the genocide that left more than 800,000 Tutsi minority dead, according to the UN.
First vice-president and minister of defense but de facto leader of Rwanda, Paul Kagame has officially been its president since 2000, elected by Parliament after the resignation of Pasteur Bizimungu, then three times by universal suffrage (95.05% in 2003 — 93.08% in 2010 — and 2017).
Opposition muzzled
He enjoys great popularity for having revived the country, which was drained of blood after the genocide and is now presented by certain Western and African leaders as a model of development.
Its solid growth (7.2% on average between 2012 and 2022) has been accompanied by the development of infrastructure (roads, hospitals, etc.) and socio-economic progress, particularly in the areas of education and health.
But he is also accused of silencing critical voices of power.
The electoral commission invalidated the candidacy of an anti-Kagame voice, Diane Rwigara, due to non-compliant documents. She had already been excluded from the last presidential election, accused of falsifying documents and arrested, before being cleared by the courts in 2018.
Two opposition figures, Victoire Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda, were also barred from running for president due to past convictions. The courts rejected their requests to have their civil rights restored.
In a statement, Amnesty International denounced the “severe restrictions” on the rights of the opposition, as well as “threats, arbitrary detentions, fabricated charges, killings and enforced disappearances.”
” Too strong “
The three weeks of campaigning have been dominated by Mr Kagame and the RPF, whose portraits and red-white-and-blue colours are plastered across the country.
His rivals are virtually invisible, even though Mr. Habineza welcomed a calmer context than in 2017, even assuring that he had received “massive support” from the population.
Mr. Mpayimana himself acknowledged that he was up against an opponent who was “too strong.”
Most people cannot imagine a president other than Mr Kagame. In this landlocked country in the Great Lakes region, 65% of the population is under 30 and has not known another leader.
For the first time, the presidential election is being combined with the legislative elections, where 589 candidates are competing for the 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Voters will elect 53 directly. Currently, the RPF has 40 seats out of 53 and its allies (Social Democratic Party, Liberal Party, Imberakuri Social Party) 11 seats. Mr Habineza’s Green Democratic Party has two deputies.
The other 27 seats are reserved by quota for women, young people and the disabled.
They will be awarded on Tuesday to candidates not running under any partisan banner: 24 women will be elected by municipal and regional councillors, two young people by the National Youth Council and a person with a disability will be designated by the Federation of Disabled Persons’ Associations.