Paris, 24 July 2024. Obviously, there were no surprises, despite a semblance of competition, for form’s sake. Paul Kagame was re-elected for his fourth term. The Rwandan elections were locked in. Democracy and voters’ choice are certainly not at the heart of the country’s political life. Paul Kagame, who has been in power since 1994, continues his reign. The final results of the presidential and legislative elections should be made public on 27 July 2024, but the provisional results already show a crushing victory for the RPF, the party in power since the end of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
The resultsof the 2024 presidential election are reminiscent of those of 2017. The same candidates faced each other with similar results. Paul Kagame even saw his score rise, with 99.18% of the vote, compared to 98.79% in 2017. Paul Kagame’s two opponents had already received anecdotal results, with less than 1% of the vote each. Both candidates had said in 2017 that they were victims of harassment, threats, and intimidation.
As for the parliamentary elections, they have so far given68.83% to the RPF party, giving it an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
An interminable reign, a non-existent democracy
Consistently re-elected with more than 90% of the vote, the 66-year-old Kagame rules Rwanda with an iron fist for the last 30 years. This seizure of the power has been possible through the constitutional reform of 2015, which allows Paul Kagame to serve a fourth and fifth term in office. Indeed, the constitutional reform reduces the presidential terms to five years, renewable once. After a transitional period of seven years (2017-2024), the counters for Paul Kagame have been reset to zero, allowing him to stand for election this year (2024) and next (2029), potentially keeping him in power until 2034.
As in previous elections, the 2024 elections were marked by the muzzling of alternative opposition political forces. In order to prevent the emergence of a real alternative opposition, the government used a variety of methods to obstruct all democratic life. The FIDU Inkingi party, formerly chaired by Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza, the Development and Freedom for All party (Dalfa-Umurinzi), currently chaired by her, and the Imberakuri Social Party, which was registered in 2009 but whose founder, Bernard Ntaganda, was deported, have never been able to contest elections. FDU Inkingi’s registration has been pending since 2010 and Dalfa Umurinzi’s since 2019, without any results since then. The Rwandan Supreme Court refused to reinstate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza on 13 March 2024 and Bernard Ntaganda on 14 May 2024. Diane Rwigara, as an independent candidate and leader of her Movement for the Salvation of the People, was also barred by the Electoral Commission from standing in the 2017 and 2024 elections.
These obstacles are not new. The Green Democratic Party, founded in 2009, waited four years to be registered in 2013. It took several more years before it could take part in the 2024 presidential elections. This is an exception, as the other parties have never been able to reach this stage. In addition to these administrative obstacles, members of the opposition are constantly threatened, arbitrarily arrested and detained and, if they are not killed, subjected to enforced disappearance, as was the case of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza’s assistant in 2019. In almost all cases of violations against political opponents, no official or independent investigation has been carried out.
Closing civic space and authoritarian practices
Apart from opposition politicians, civic space in Rwanda is completely restricted and controlled by the RPF. By tightening its control over the political, economic and media spheres and further restricting civil and democratic space, the government continues to attack fundamental freedoms. Two FIDH analysis reports: Rwanda: Democracy under guardianship (2017) and In Rwanda, a civic and democratic space under the total control of the RPF (2022) highlight the means used to maintain power and obstruct civil and political rights.
With violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, combined with repression, the silencing of associations, the closure of the media and control of the economy, Rwanda’s political and civil landscape is under the total control of the RPF. Arrests, intimidation, arbitrary detentions, disappearances, and suspicious deaths are on the increase. Dissident and independent voices, both journalists and activists, are virtually non-existent. The few remaining activists, who are still independent, have no choice but to exercise caution and discretion or go into exile.
New mandate: the urgent need to put human rights and fundamental freedoms back at the heart of priorities
Although it comes as no surprise, this new presidential term is an opportunity for FIDH and ODHR to reiterate to the elected authorities and Rwanda’s partners their concerns about the alarming situation in the country. To guarantee peace and sustainable development, they call on the Rwandan government to:
– open up its democratic space;
– lift restrictions on public freedoms and to guarantee their respect;
– ensure the conditions for real political diversity and a real competition, so that Rwandan citizens can exercise their right to vote and freely choose their leaders in free, fair and transparent elections;
– to allow the implementation of independent investigations into political assassinations and suspicious disappearances of opponents.
"On the eve of this new mandate, we remain deeply concerned about the regime’s continued authoritarian excesses, which have been aimed at closing democratic space and silencing all opposition for several decades. It is essential that the Rwandan government puts effective measures to ensure respect for human rights back at the heart of its program in particular the fight against impunity and the promotion of freedom of expression. It is also incumbent on Rwanda’s international partners, both legally and morally, to encourage and condition their relations with this government on the implementation of these progressive measures. Only the effective reopening of a peaceful, democratic, and human rights-respecting space will enable Rwanda to comply with its international legal obligations." Alice Mogwe – president of the FIDH
Finally, FIDH and ODHR call on Rwanda’s partners to publicly condemn the attacks carried out by its army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as its support for militias, in particular the M23, which are regularly responsible for massacres, mass rapes and countless crimes that cannot go unpunished.
FIDH and ODHR therefore call for the immediate suspension of military aid to the Rwandan army under the European Peace Facility and urge the European Union to make its continuation conditional on a prior commitment by the Rwandan army to withdraw its support for the M23 and to respect human rights in general, both at home and abroad.