By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, along with two candidates cleared for the race for nation’s presidency have flagged off their campaigns, as momentum gathers for the July 15 elections in the East African country.
Apart from Kagame of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), two other candidates who scaled the hurdles to be in the ballot are, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party and independent candidate Phillippe Mpayimana.
Heritage Times HT reports that the trio are veterans in the contest, as the two opponents testing their popularity against Kagame who has been in power in the last 20 years have sought the top job and lost to him.
The campaign runs between June 22 to July 13.
Heritage Times HT had reported that President Kagame’s vocal critic Diane Rwigara was among six candidates disqualified by the electoral commission for failing to meet the minimum requirements.
A total of nine aspirants had submitted their bid to join in the race to the electoral umpire by May 30 deadline but six were locked out in circumstances opposition says is politically motivated.
Parliamentary elections will also hold July 15.
About 9 million voters are expected to take part in the exercise.
About 589 candidates have been cleared to run for membership of the Chamber of Deputies, which has a total composition of 80 members.
Out of the 80-member parliament, fifty-three of them are directly voted for by the people, 24 women are elected by regional councils, while two are chosen by the National Youth Council, and one by the Association of the Disabled.
