Politics

Rwanda sets date for next presidential elections

Published

12 months ago

December 12, 2023

East African country, Rwanda, has set July 2024 as the date for its next presidential elections, with incumbent Paul Kagame seeking to extend his roughly three decades of control of the country.

According to a presidential order published in the official gazette, nationwide elections for the lower house of parliament’s 53 deputies and the president will occur on July 15, with elections for the remaining 27 deputies scheduled for July 16.

Earlier this year, the president was re-elected to a five-year term as chair of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party. Human rights organisations have accused him of suppressing political opposition and silencing independent media, for which he has come under increasing pressure.

Ideal Democratic Party, Democratic Union of the Rwandan People, Prosperity and Solidarity Party, and Rwandan Socialist Party were among the groups that have declared support for Kagame’s re-election at the 2024 polls.

Political activist, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, declared that her United Democratic Forces party would challenge Kagame if registered in time. At the same time, Frank Habineza, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda’s 2017 presidential candidate, has also stated that he will run again in 2024.

Rwanda held its last presidential elections on August 4, 2017. Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda, received 98.79% of the vote to win a third seven-year term in office.

A 2015 referendum authorised constitutional amendments that reduced the length of presidential terms from seven to five years and permitted incumbent President Paul Kagame to seek a third term in office in 2017. However, the latter change would not take effect until 2024.

The United States criticised the constitutional amendment in 2015, arguing that Kagame ought to resign at the end of his term to make room for a new generation of leaders.

Since the end of the 1994 genocide, which is said to have killed 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, Kagame has received praise from all around the world for overseeing economic expansion and peace.

As a result, some observers have used Kagame as a model for a hypothetical “benevolent dictator” argued to be necessary for the continent’s development.

Related Topics:Featured Paul Kagame Rwanda

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Politics

Mali’s junta names spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga new Prime Minister

Published

3 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A day after dismissing Choguel Maiga for criticising the government, Mali’s governing junta named its spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, as Prime Minister on Thursday, according to state broadcaster, ORTM.

A source close to Choguel Maiga told Reuters that the ruling generals were incensed by Maiga’s remarks over the weekend denouncing the junta’s inability to hold elections within the 24-month timeframe given for the return to democracy.

After promising to hold elections in February, the military authorities, who took control in two separate coups in 2020 and 2021, have put off the poll indefinitely, citing technological difficulties.

Choguel Maiga’s firing coincides with indications of growing discontent and disarray among Mali politicians, even those who first supported the coup and collaborated with the junta.

As the wait for elections continues, Choguel Maiga, a civilian prime minister who was installed by the military junta in 2021, is the most recent to lose support.

He was cited on Saturday as claiming he learnt of the junta’s decision via the media and that there had been no discussion regarding the delay of the elections inside the cabinet.

“It’s all happening in total secrecy, without the prime minister’s knowledge,” Choguel Maiga told reporters.

Before then, he had frequently stood up for Mali’s junta against criticism from foreign friends and neighbours in West Africa who denounced its repeated election delays and military collaboration with Russian mercenaries.

As government spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, the new prime minister, has also made strong public remarks against France, the previous colonial master. One such speech was demanding French President Emmanuel Macron to stop his “neocolonial” and “condescending” behaviour.

Abdoulaye Maiga and Assimi Goita, the leaders of the junta, announced they had kept all of the important cabinet ministers in their portfolios in the new administration in a statement that was broadcast on state television ORTM.

The announcement said that Abdoulaye Maiga will remain minister of territory administration.

Politics

Congo opposition mobilizes protests against constitution review

Published

1 day ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In response to President Felix Tshisekedi’s intentions to amend the constitution, opposition lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have called for national protests on Wednesday.

Tshisekedi, who was sworn in for his second and last term in January, said that a panel would be formed in October to recommend possible constitutional amendments.

According to critics, it may be a ploy to lift term restrictions and give him another chance to run.

Tshisekedi said the current constitution, ratified by a referendum in 2005, needed to change because it did not align with the country’s current realities.

Opposition politicians, including former president Joseph Kabila and past presidential candidates Martin Fayulu and Moise Katumbi, issued a unified statement on Wednesday urging rallies to “block” Tshisekedi.

A request for a response from the Congo’s presidency was not answered.

Patrick Muyaya, the minister of communications, stated on Monday that discussions surrounding the constitutional revision should be de-politicized and that no one should doubt the president’s intentions.

“We’re at the beginning of our mandate… The President of the Republic still has four years to go, and we must avoid attributing intentions to him,” Muyaya told reporters.