The 35th international congress of the presidential party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, was held this weekend. More than 2,000 delegates voted on Sunday for their party’s new executive committee, and unsurprisingly re-elected President Paul Kagame as party leader.
With our correspondent in Kigali, Lucie Mouillaud
It is by an overwhelming majority, with 99.8% of the votes, that President Paul Kagame is re-elected for a five-year term at the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. The head of state and founding member of the party passes three votes almost unanimously, with only one other candidate facing him, Abdul Karim Harerimana, former deputy and appointed Rwandan ambassador to Indonesia at the end of March.
The 25 commissioners and the rest of the executive committee were also elected on Sunday. Former senator Consolée Uwimana becomes vice-president of the RPF, the first woman to occupy this position within the party. She replaces Christophe Bazivamo in post since 2002. The Rwandan ambassador to Angola, Wellars Gasamagera, takes on the role of secretary general.
Less than a year and a half before the next presidential election, scheduled for August 2024, the new executive committee of the RPF will be responsible in particular for preparing the party for the ballot. The head of state for 23 years, Paul Kagame, has not yet spoken definitively about a possible candidacy for a new presidential term.