By Frank Kamuntu
A prominent opponent of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, has been barred from standing in next month’s election to challenge his three-decade rule.
Diane Rwigara, the leader of the People Salvation Movement, who was also barred in 2017, launched her election bid in May and submitted her candidacy last week. Her name was missing from the provisional list of candidates announced by the electoral commission on Thursday.
“After all the time, work and effort I put in, I am very disappointed to hear I am not on the list of presidential candidates,” Rwigara said on X. “Paul Kagame, why won’t you let me run?”
The election commission said she had failed to provide a criminal record statement as required, and that she had not met the threshold of 600 supporting signatures from citizens.
Only two other candidates – Frank Habineza, of the Democratic Green party, and Philippe Mpayimana, an independent – were cleared to run against Kagame.
