Rwanda's President and RPF Chairman Paul Kagame (R) presents his
credentials as presidential candidate for the upcoming elections to the
president of the national election commission Kalisa Mbanda (L), in
Kigali on June 22, 2017. PHOTO CYRIL NDEGEYA | NATION
Two independent presidential hopefuls have
failed to make it to the final list of candidates and will not be on the
ballot in Rwanda’s August 4 election.
Out of the four independent candidates who submitted their presidential bids, only Philippe Mpayimana made it to the final list.
Mpayimana
joins Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda who will
battle it out with the incumbent President Paul Kagame of RPF-Inkotanyi
for the top seat.
Announcing the
final list on Friday evening, the chairman of the National Electoral
Commission Kalisa Mbanda said that out of the six people who submitted
bids, only three made it to the final list.
“The
commissioners met and assessed the requirements supporting the bids as
stipulated in the law and the following candidates were confirmed on the
final list after they fulfilled all the requirements,” said Prof
Mbanda.
“The first one is Frank
Habineza fronted by the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Philippe
Mpayimana, an independent candidate and Paul Kagame fronted by RPF
Inkotanyi.”
Prof Mbanda said that Gilbert Mwenedata
managed 522 of the 600 signatures required by the law — an improvement
from the previous 387 signatures.
“He
did not get a single signature from Burera District and also included a
dead person among the signatures,” the NEC head said.
Fred
Sekikubo Barafinda managed to raise 362 signatures. He, however, failed
to get the minimum 12 signatures required from each of the 30
districts. He also failed to submit a citizenship certificate.
“The
other candidate who did not make it to the final list is Diane
Nshimiyimana Rwigara because she did not raise the 600 signatures
required. She has 572 signatures and used voters cards which are yet to
be obtained by their owners,” said Prof Mbanda.
He
added: “Some of the signatures belong to deceased people; she also used
documents belonging to the political party PS Imberakuri while
gathering signatures, which puts her integrity in disrepute,” said Prof
Mbanda.
The NEC announcement came as Ms Rwigara declared that she had submitted more signatures than what the NEC required.
She
said she had submitted 120 more signatures in addition to some 150
submitted earlier which were valid but were not included on the list
because the owners of the signatures relocated their polling stations.
“I
submitted additional NEC requirements including 120 signatures from 11
districts which brings the total number of signatures collected and
submitted to 1,105 — almost double the NEC requirement,” Ms Rwigara
said.
But on its Twitter account,
NEC said that one of the people who signed for Ms Rwigara died on April
16, in Kibagabaga hospital and was buried the next day.
“Ms
Rwigara also connived with an NEC volunteer Josephine Uwingabire to
sign for 26 people, while 34 people who signed for her were taken off a
list of members of PS Imberakuri,” the electoral body tweeted.
Other
independent candidates echoed Ms Rwigara’s sentiments saying that they
had submitted more than the required number of 600 signatures, but the
NEC knocked off a big number of them.
Mr
Mwenedata claimed that members of his team were threatened and
intimated in different parts of the country when they went to collect
more signatures.
“When you have
cars without number plates trailing you, you can’t say you are 100 per
cent secure,” Mr Mwenedata told Voice of America, expressing his lack of
confidence in the electoral body to fairly vet the signatures.
The
omission of the independent candidates from the provisional list caused
jitters, with several diplomats tasking the NEC to explain the
circumstances under which they were left out.
The
incumbent President Kagame who is seeking a third term described the
envoys’ involvement as “interference” saying they should let the
electoral body do its job and not be put under pressure from anyone.
He said that foreign envoys should “stop fuelling fire” while describing the “interference” as a “bizarre situation.”
“My
question is, does the electoral commission, or will the electoral
commission clarify things they should because the European Union
representative has said so?” he posed.
His
remarks in a TV talk show came days after several diplomats including
the EU, ambassadors from the UK, South Korea and the US visited the
electoral commission to “understand better” the vetting process which
left out independent presidential candidates on the provisional list.
According
to Michael Ryan, the head of the EU delegation to Rwanda, diplomats
wanted to understand from the NEC’s perspective the process which raised
fears that independent candidates could be left out, and possibly
denting the credibility of the elections.
Campaigns begin on July 14, three weeks to the August election. Rwandans in the diaspora vote a day earlier.
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