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Published: August 13th 2010
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Election Poster
The typical Poster on all means of transport displaying Paul Kagama Election Rwandan Style
Rwanda has just gone through its third Presidential Election post 1994. Election day was the 9th of August, but as in most countries the actual campaign started months ago. When I first arrived in Rwanda there was already an air of anticipation and excitement about the upcoming elections. The official campaigns hadn’t been launched yet but there where posters and radio ads encouraging people to carry out their right to vote. The Electoral Commission employed and trained hundreds of representatives to move throughout the country to conduct forums explaining the importance of their right to vote as well as how the voting process will be carried out on the day. Unlike Australia where you number your candidates in order of preference here voters are required to put a thumb print next to the candidate they prefer. Similar to Australia polling booths are located in Primary Schools. To be eligible to vote on the day each person must produce their identity cards where upon they receive voting ballot, they then take the voting slip into the booth to make their mark which is then folded and placed into a sealed box. Voting is carried out between 6:00am and
A local Paul Kagama Rally
After school one day I was invited to attend a local Paul Kagama rally. I was never invited to any other candidates rallies and there was never one in the local district that I know of. 8:00pm.
The Launch
The official launch of the campaign was held on the 9th of July (declared a public holiday) at the Amahoro (Peace) Stadium. On this day the 4 candidates had the opportunity to put forward their parties policies and future programs. As far as I can make out they talk about what they are offering without attacking the policies of the other parties. After this launch the gloves come off and each party holds their own rallies where they put forward their policies and programs while running down the other parties and their leaders (same as everywhere else in the world).
The Parties
There are 4 parties (theoretically) contesting the election in Rwanda, the RPF (with incumbent President (Paul Kagama), The PL (People’s Liberation) which is probably the 2nd most popular party, the PSD and a 4th party which unfortunately was so insignificant compared to the other parties that not mant people could remember what it was called when I asked them. I’m not sure of the significance of this but the party had a female candidate and I wonder if this resulted in its lack of media coverage.
I say that
A local Paul Kagama Rally cont.
People were very enthusiastic even though P.K. wasn't there. there are theoretically 4 parties because basically there is only the one party and that is the RPF. When you wondered the streets of Kigali, including suburbs, and travel throughout the country anything that moved or stood still had RPF stickers and posters of Paul Kagama plastered all over them. For every 1 of the other candidates advertising posters there were hundreds of Paul Kagama posters. The RPF rallies were exciting, loud and similar to what you’d see in American rallies but with more of a festival atmosphere. Bus loads of Kagama supporters would travel to rallies all over the country side singing, yelling, slapping the sides of the buses, cars would be beeping their horns - it was a cacophony of different noises. In comparison the other parties rallies were low key affairs. The numbers attending the rallies were very small and those that did attend via bus or cars travelled there in a more subdued fashion, less outgoing. It seemed as though they wanted to get to the rally with as little attention as possible. The feeling I got was that they may have felt a little embarrassed to be voting against Paul Kagama. To indicate the high
regard in which Paul Kagama is held within Rwanda you can equate his status here as to that of Garry Ablett Senior in Geelong. It is almost God like (or that’s how it comes across)). The bottom line is that even if all parties combined their votes they still wouldn’t come anywhere near close to the vote Paul Kagame will receive.
Is this degree of support a good thing or a bad thing? Basically that depends on who you speak too. If you speak to a certain portion of the population they see him as the father of Rwanda. He is their saviour. Even his posters have a very paternal look about them. He can do no wrong, he has brought peace and prosperity to the country, he has developed a universal education and health system and he developing Rwanda into the Information Technology Centre of Africa (or that is his goal). He is very pro active in his campaign against HIV and Gender Violence. He has worked hard at bring Rwanda back into a reasonably viable position since 1994. But at what cost? This is the point made by those who believe that the election is a farce
A local Paul Kagama Rally cont.
This guy was so happy to see me there attending the rally he dragged me out to dance with the crowd. He soon realised how much rhythm I didn't have and encouraged me to just clap. and are not going to vote because it is a waste of time, the result they believe is an orchestrated result. They are of the opinion that the election has been manipulated to the point where he can’t lose. It is interesting (according to them) how any candidates that may have had an outside chance of challenging Paul Kagama either had to flee the country because of charges bought against them, or somehow have charges pending against them making them ineligible to run as a candidate, or have just pulled out for whatever reason (no one seems to know). The people who express these opinions generally do it quietly because they fear there maybe repercussions if caught speaking like this. The truth where does it lay, I can physically see the good he has done for the country and the progress it has made, people believe that if he isn’t re-elected Rwanda will revert to the 1994 situation again, one of fear and violence. On the other hand others believe that he fuels this fear and violence scenario because it is good for his re-election. They also argue that his manner of ruling is very dictatorial. Whatever the bottom line
A local Paul Kagama Rally cont.
The numbers here were amazing considering it was a small place and Paul was not even turning up. is he is back for another 7 years.
The Result
We are now 4 days post election and it is clear that Paul Kagama has won the elections in a record landslide. They are quoting that he received approximately 92%!o(MISSING)f all votes. As mentioned before the elections were held on Monday August the 9th and Tuesday August the 10th was declared a public holiday. I thank you Paul.
Wash-up
On August the 12th 3 grenades where exploded in the crowded bus terminal in downtown Kigali. At this stage there are varying reports on the number of casualties. Lucky to say this little duck wasn’t one of them. If you Google Kigali and explosions I’m sure you would be able to find out more information. Apparently there have been a number of arrests.
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