Easygoing Election Day In Rwanda, Where Kagame’s Rule Is Probably Going To Continue

On Monday, voters in Rwanda peacefully lined up to cast their ballots for the country’s next leader. It is largely expected that Paul Kagame, the leader of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), will comfortably win a fourth term in office, continuing his nearly 25-year reign.

Human rights organizations and experts feel that Kagame’s win is almost certain. The two opposing candidates, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party and independent Philippe Mpayimana, expressed their hopes of achieving some progress.

Leaders in the West and the region praised Kagame, who won more than 93% of the vote in the last three elections, for his part in putting an end to the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

But before the election, the administration has come under fire from advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch for allegedly targeting the opposition, media, and civil society organizations.

In response to these accusations, Kagame has defended himself as the candidate for stability.

Due to accusations of wrongdoing and support for rebels in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, which he has denied, his second term in office may signal some degree of political stability in his region of division, but it will also draw continued attention from around the world.