Rwanda's ruling party picks President Kagame for fourth term in July election

The seasoned leader of the East African nation’s nomination was met with no opposition at the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) conference, which concluded on March 9, the party announced.

According to the election calendar, Rwanda plans to hold presidential and parliamentary polls on July 15, following a synchronisation decision last year, with campaigning from June 22 to July 12.

The 66-year-old chairman of the RPF before taking office as president in 2000 after the resignation of former President Pasteur Bizimungu, President Kagame held the positions of vice president and minister of defence for Rwanda under Bizimungu’s government from 1994 to 2000.

He was elected by government ministers rather than through a direct election, taking office while the Transitional Constitution was still in force. In 2003, he triumphed in Rwanda's first multiparty election with a significant landslide.

He was reelected twice, in 2010 and 2017. The reason for his most recent reelection was a 2015 constitutional amendment that allowed him to run for a third seven-year term, replacing the nation’s 2003 constitution's two-term limit.

Throughout his term, Kagame has come under heavy fire for alleged human rights violations and limitations on political freedom.

He faces opposition in the July polls in 47-year-old member of parliament and leader of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Frank Habineza.

The leader of the unregistered Development and Liberty For All movement, Victoire Ingabire, is another potential challenger to Kagame who is barred from running for president after serving 8 years of a 15-year prison sentence on charges of terrorism and endangering national security following her bid against Kagame in the 2010 presidential election.

A court will rule on March 13 over her eligibility to run for president.