President Paul Kagame of Rwanda Wins Expected Landslide
Sawako Utsumi and Sawako Uchida
Modern Tokyo Times
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda preserved political power with the expected landslide win. Accordingly, the presidential election was a foregone conclusion.
Kagame faced little opposition given the selected nature of the candidates. Thus, the independent Philippe Mpayimana and Frank Habineza (Democratic Green Party) couldn’t even muster 1% of the vote.
Habineza said, “I believe democracy is a process.”
He continued, “People still have a fear of expressing their opinions. I’m fighting for freedom of speech, freedom of the media.”
Voice of America reports, “The president, who has been in power in various roles since 1994, won by a similar amount in 2017.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “Since the emergence of Kagame, he has sought internal stability and to expand Rwanda’s influence. Irrespective of whether this is covertly (Democratic Republic of Congo) or helping another nation facing internal instability (Mozambique and others).”
The BBC reports, “He has been the real force in Rwanda since his rebel forces took power at the end of the 1994 genocide which killed some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.”
The United States State Department says the nation has made “progress in developing national and local government institutions, economic development, maintaining security (and) promoting reconciliation.”
Kagame – at the headquarters of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – said, “The results that have been presented indicate a very high score, these are not just figures, even if it was 100%, these are not just numbers… These figures show the trust, and that is what is most important. I am hopeful that together we can solve all problems.”
Opposition political figures, including Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire, were prevented from participating in the election.
Rwanda looks set for continuing stability under Kagame – even if it comes at the price of “open and inclusive democracy.”
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