Kagame set for fourth term victory in Rwanda election
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party sits to submit his candidacy for an a July 15 election at Rwanda's National Election Commission in Kiyovu, Kigali, Rwanda May 17, 2024. PHOTO:REUTERS
Rwandan President Paul Kagame is expected to cruise to a fourth term in office in an election on Monday against two opposition candidates who were cleared to run against him but have only modest expectations.
Kagame, 66, helped lead the rebel movement that ended the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and has served as president since 2000. He faces only two rivals because six other potential candidates were not cleared to run by the state-run electoral commission.
Kagame won nearly 99% of the vote in the last election in 2017, which followed a constitutional change removing term limits that would have barred him from standing again.
His re-election could signal further stability but also continued global scrutiny, given accusations of rights abuses and continued tensions with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kagame has won praise during his tenure for rebuilding the country of 14 million after the genocide, in which more than a million people were killed. Rwanda has emerged as a regional financial hub.