Rwandans will choose between three presidential candidates and over 500 aspiring MPs during the July 15th elections.
The Rwanda National Electoral Commission unveiled on Friday, June 14, the names of candidates in the presidential and parliamentary polls.
Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president for 23 years, has been at the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front since 1998. He will face Frank Habineza of the opposition Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and Philippe Mpayimana, who runs as an independent.
In total, nine candidates submitted their candidacy to the National Electoral Commission.
Habineza ran during the last presidential poll and garnered less than 2% of the votes.
Kagame won previous elections in 2003, 2010, and 2017 with more than 90 percent of the vote.
Critics and rights groups accuse him of ruling in a climate of fear that stifles dissent and free speech.
Last April, the Liberal Party (PL) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) endorsed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) candidate, Paul Kagame. In doing so, they joined four smaller political parties, which are already in a coalition with the ruling RPF, in endorsing Kagame.
