“A new chapter for Rwanda begins now. Together we will make history! Join me as I run for president“, she wrote on X, with the hashtag #Twagiye (“let’s go” in Kinyarwanda).
Aged 42, Diane Rwigara is the fourth candidate declared for this election, with Paul Kagame, the strong man of the country since the end of the genocide in 1994 and president since 2000, Frank Habineza, deputy and leader of the Green Democratic Party, formation opposition authorized by the government, and Philippe Mpayima, independent candidate.
See DRC/Rwanda: Paul Kagame’s controversy on the Congolese borders
Opposition figure Victoire Ingabire, who had announced her intention to run, will not be able to do so after a court rejected in March her request to restore her civil rights, of which she had been stripped following a conviction in 2013 especially for “minimizing the 1994 genocide”.
Victoire Ingabire, during her trial in September 2011. She was released with 2,100 other prisoners, without explanation, in September 2018.
© AP Photo/Shant Fabricatoria
According to the official electoral calendar, candidates for the presidential and legislative elections on July 15 must submit their applications between May 17 and 30. The final list of candidates will be announced on June 14.
Diane Rwigara had wanted to run for president in August 2017, but her candidacy was rejected by the electoral commission due to alleged forgeries. The decision was criticized by Western governments and human rights groups.
Arrested and tried for falsifying documents but also, with her mother and sister, for “incitement to insurrection”she was acquitted of these charges in 2018, “unfounded” according to the court.
Read Rwanda: the surprise acquittal of opponent Diane Rwigara
Diane Rwigara is the daughter of Assinapol Rwigara, an important Rwandan entrepreneur who made his fortune in industry and real estate. In the 1990s, he largely financed Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) before it overthrew the extremist Hutu power in July 1994, putting an end to the genocide.
Diane Rwigara distanced herself from the RPF after the death of her father in February 2015 in a road accident, according to police. She had contested this version and denounced “assassination”.
Read Rwanda accused of torture, Kigali denies
Credited with the spectacular development of Rwanda, bloodless after the genocide, Paul Kagame is regularly accused of flouting freedom of expression and repressing all opposition.
Elected president by Parliament in April 2000, he obtained more than 90% of the votes in the presidential elections which have since been held by universal suffrage in 2003, 2010 and 2017.
