The candidacy of Diane Rwigara, a vocal opponent of Rwandan President Kagame, has been disallowed for the presidential election scheduled for next month.
The electoral body cleared only Mr. Kagame and two other politicians, Democratic Green Party’s Frank Habineza and independent Philippe Mpayimana.
Ms. Rwigara, who was also excluded from the 2017 poll, expressed her displeasure to Mr. Kagame on News, the former Twitter platform.
“Why won’t you allow me to flee? You have now defrauded me twice of my right to run for office, the woman claimed.
The 42-year-old, who is the head of the People Salvation Movement (PSM), had previously expressed her ambition to be able to stand this time around on the Newsday program.
I speak for the great majority of Rwandans who are unable to live freely in their own nation and must live in dread,” she remarked.
“The image of Rwanda is one of a nation whose economy is expanding. But things aren’t the same on the ground. The necessities of life—food, drink, and shelter—are indeed lacking in people.”
However, the election commission claimed that Ms. Rwigara had not submitted the necessary paperwork to prove that she had no criminal history when it released its tentative list of contenders.
It said that she had not demonstrated that she had enough support across the country to be credible.
“She did not provide at least 12 signatures from eight districts on the requirement for 600 signature endorsements,” the head of the electoral commission, Oda Gasinzigwa, was cited as saying.
