Kagame critic Diane Rwigara banned from running for Rwanda presidency

Diane Rwigara, an outspoken critic of Rwanda's President Kagame, has been barred from standing in next month's presidential election.

Only Kagame and two other politicians, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party and independent Philippe Mpaimana, were found not guilty by the electoral commission.

Rwigara, who was also disqualified in the 2017 elections, expressed his disappointment in Kagame on X (formerly Twitter).

“Why don't you let me escape? This is the second time. [have] Cheating[ed] “They took away my right to campaign,” she said.

The 42-year-old leader of the People's Salvation Movement (PSM) previously told BBC's Newsday programme that she wanted to run this time.

“I speak for the majority of Rwandans who live in fear and are not allowed to be free in their own country,” she said.

“Rwanda is portrayed as a country with a growing economy. But the reality is different. People lack the basics of life: food, water and shelter.”

But when the Electoral Commission released its provisional list of candidates, it said Rwigara had not submitted the correct documents to show he had no criminal record.

He also said she had failed to demonstrate she had enough national support to run.

“In terms of the requirement of 600 signatures for approval, she failed to submit at least 12 signatures from eight districts,” electoral commission chairperson Oda Gasingigwa was quoted as saying.

Another reason cited by the committee was that Rwigara could not prove he was born in Rwanda – he was once a Belgian citizen but renounced it in 2017, before his last candidacy.

But Rwigara told the BBC he was born in Rwanda and denied any other reasons for refusing to run.

A total of nine applications have been submitted to Rwanda's National Electoral Commission to run for president. The commission is still considering objections submitted early in the electoral process, so the final list of candidates is expected to be published next Friday, but at this stage it is too late for the PSM leader to file an objection.

In 2017, she was barred from running after accusations that she forged the signatures of supporters on her application.

She was released in 2018 after eight years in prison for endangering national security and “downplaying” the 1994 genocide.

In Rwanda, anyone who has been imprisoned for more than six months is barred from running in elections.

The two approved candidates, Habineza and Mpaimana, were also the only candidates approved to run against Kagame in the 2017 elections.

He won the last presidential election in 2017 with nearly 99% of the vote.

The 66-year-old president has been criticized by human rights groups for cracking down on opposition figures.

But he has always been a strong defender of Rwanda's human rights record and insisted his country respects political freedoms.