Opposition’s Diane Rwigara Seeks Presidential Nomination

Diane Rwigara, one of Rwanda’s most vocal opposition figures, has presented her nomination papers for the upcoming presidential elections.

“I have submitted all the required documents plus 974 signatures (600 is the minimum required number) from all 30 districts,” said Rwigara on June 4, 2024.

“The provisional list of candidates comes out this Thursday, June 6th,” she said, adding, “I am hoping to be on it this time.”

Rwigara recently announced her presidential bid, saying, “A new chapter for Rwanda begins now. Join me as I run for President.”

She told her supporters that, “Together we will make history!”

Rwanda will hold presidential elections on July 15, 2024.

President Paul Kagame, who has been president since 2000, is already campaigning for re-election.

Kagame is eligible to continue in office for another decade after a constitutional amendment in 2015 changed term limits that would have forced him to step down two years later.

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In 2015, Rwigara returned to Rwanda from California after her father died in a car crash.

On 3 May 2017, Rwigara, an accountant by profession, announced her intention to run as an independent candidate in Rwanda’s presidential election.

On 7 July 2017, the National Electoral Commission disqualified Rwigara from the election on technical grounds, alleging she had used forged signatures in her presidential bid and had submitted only 572 valid signatures rather than the required 600.

At the time, Rwigara said she had submitted 958 signatures, with an additional 120 after some were disqualified.

Two other candidates were also disqualified, prompting Amnesty International to say that the election would be held in a “climate of fear and repression.”

The decision was also criticised by the US State Department and the European Union.

After Rwigara was disqualified, Rwanda’s Revenue Authority slapped her family’s business with a tax bill of 5.7 billion Rwandan francs (approximately $6.5 million).

The government also seized the family’s business, selling off their assets for more than 1.7 billion Rwandan francs (approximately $1.9 million) in auctions in March and June 2018.

She was charged on 23 September 2017, alongside her mother and four other defendants, with “inciting insurrection” among other counts, but was acquitted along with her mother on 6 December 2018.

She reiterated her intention to run, with campaign vows to work towards eradicating poverty, establishing universal health insurance and championing free speech.

Kagame won the 4 August election with 98% of the vote.

Rwigara later launched an activist group called the People Salvation Movement to challenge President Kagame’s government on its human rights record, saying that the country’s parliament is little more than a rubber-stamp.

Diane’s sister, Anne Rwigara, passed away in her home in California, United States on Thursday, December 28.

She was aged 41 and was said to have succumbed to multiple organ failures after suffering stomach complications.