Rwanda's Presidential Election: No Free Vote, No Real Opposition

In July 2024, Rwanda held a presidential election that President Paul Kagame won with an officially reported 99.18% of the vote, the third time he has been returned to power with near-unanimous totals since 2000. The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights condemns this election in the strongest terms. It was not a vote. It was a carefully staged confirmation of a one-man state. No real opposition allowed on the ballot Rwanda's most credible opposition figures were never permitted to compete. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the leader of the UNIR-party FDU-Inkingi, who returned to Rwanda intending to register as a candidate, was arrested in October 2024 and jailed on charges widely recognised by human rights organisations as retaliation for her political activity. Diane Rwigara was disqualified from the 2017 election and prosecuted for forgery before being acquitted, an acquittal that did nothing to hide the pattern. Other would-be candidates were rejected by the National Election Commission on flimsy administrative grounds, while Kagame's loyalist rivals on the ballot, independent in name only, posed no challenge whatsoever. The result is that in the latest presidential election, voters were offered a menu in which every serious alternative had already been removed. Nearly all candidates on the ballot were Kagame allies. Frank Habineza, the sole genuinely opposition-aligned candidate permitted to run, reported harassment and intimidation of his party members throughout the campaign, and publicly described conditions in which no opposition politician could campaign freely. Harassment and intimidation of opponents The harassment did not begin on polling day and did not end with it. Human Rights Watch has documented how Rwandan authorities target, threaten and prosecute government critics, journalists, human rights defenders, bloggers and opposition members, to prevent any challenge to the ruling party. Activists living abroad have been hunted down, and family members inside Rwanda punished for what relatives say overseas. Opposition rallies are blocked or dissolved, meetings are disrupted by local authorities, and aspiring candidates who refuse to stand down are arrested on politically motivated charges. This is not an election environment. It is a system of permanent pre-selection enforced by fear. A constitution rewritten to keep one man in power Kagame has now been in power for more than a quarter of a century, first as vice-president and defence minister, then as president from 2000. In 2015 a referendum, itself conducted amid repression, rewrote the constitution to let him rule until 2034. No election can be called free while the constitution has been amended specifically to ensure the incumbent can never lose one. What the international community must do The Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights calls on the African Union, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and all democratic partners of Rwanda to: - Publicly name the July 2024 election as neither free nor fair and refuse to endorse its results;

• Demand the unconditional release of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and all other political prisoners;
• Impose targeted sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, on Rwandan officials responsible for political repression, harassment of opposition figures and interference in elections;
• Suspend security assistance and funding channelled through instruments that sustain the machinery of repression;
• Support an independent international investigation into electoral intimidation, disappearances and arbitrary arrests of Rwandan opposition members and journalists. Democracy is not a performance A country where one candidate receives 99% of the vote for a third consecutive term is not holding elections, it is holding ceremonies. The people of Rwanda deserve the same rights every free nation recognises: to choose their leaders from among genuine alternatives, to gather without fear, to speak without permission, and to change their government without being punished for trying. We stand with every Rwandan who has been jailed, silenced, exiled or endangered for the simple act of wanting a real election. Their courage is the true referendum, and it is a vote for freedom.