Allegations of intimidation and rigging marred Rwanda’s first democratic election yesterday, an event widely seen as a barometer of the country’s recovery from the 1994 genocide.
As Rwandans formed orderly queues outside polling stations shortly after dawn, none doubted that President Paul Kagame would be swept back to power.
Kagame, a former Tutsi rebel leader who toppled Rwanda’s murderous Hutu-fascist regime which was held responsible for the slaughter of 500 000 people, has solid support across the country.
”We now have peace and security,” said Emmanuelle Bijogo, apparently sounding the view of the majority, as he waited to vote in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. ”If Kagame is removed, there’ll be trouble.”
Casting his vote nearby, Kagame heralded the election as a watershed in his nation’s violent history. ”It’s a big democratic step that has been taken by our country,” he said. ”Rwandans are happy, including myself, that we have been able to make this huge stride.”
Not all Rwandans agreed. Campaigners for Faustin Twagiramungu, Kagame’s only serious challenger, reported allegations of intimidation by Kagame’s soldiers across the country.
In Cyangugu, Twagiramungu’s hometown in south-western Rwanda, voters were reluctant to speak to the Guardian at polling booths. But in dusty side streets, away from the soldiers monitoring the booths, people were seething.
”When I voted for Twagiramungu, an officials grabbed the ballot and told me not to waste his time and vote again. When I voted again for Kagame they accepted it,” said a man who gave his name as Jean. ”Most people in Cyangugu want Twagiramungu, but of course Kagame will win.”
Another voter, Felicien, said: ”Today is a catastrophe: people forced to vote for Kagame, people afraid of being imprisoned if they don’t. I voted for Twagiramungu, but whether my vote will be counted, I don’t know.”
A moderate Hutu, Twagiramungu was accused of inciting genocide in the run-up to the election by state media, despite losing 32 relatives in the 1994 massacre and escaping himself after being rolled up in a tarpaulin and smuggled to Kenya.
According to Amnesty International, Twagiramungu was effectively banned from campaigning, with his key activists arrested or ”disappeared”, and his leaflets impounded.
Alison Desforges of Human Rights Watch said yesterday: ”If this society is not yet ready to participate in a free and open voting exercise, it should not participate. Kagame cannot have it both ways — calling it democratic, yet keeping it under tight control.” – Guardian Unlimited Â