Commonwealth issues final report on 2010 Rwanda Presidential Elections

A peaceful and well-organised poll, but concerns regarding political participation and media freedoms Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma today released the Final Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group which observed the 9 August Presidential elections in Rwanda.

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Rwandan president sworn in for second term

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been sworn in for a second seven-year term. Thousands piled into a stadium in the capital Kigali on Monday and watched outside on big screens as the former rebel commander was sworn in to the cheers of the assembled citizens. Kagame won the August 9 ballot with 93 percent of the vote, according to the Rwandan National Electoral Commission. "This is your victory, this is a victory for all Rwandans," Kagame told supporters during a celebration speech after the vote last month. "Our development depends on you."

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No tourism downturn during Rwanda elections

Information was received from Kigali that the arrivals recorded in the run up of the presidential elections last week were in line with normal figures of tourists and business people coming to the "land of a thousand hills," supporting a previous opinion voiced here that there was no cause for any concern over visiting Rwanda during this historic period.

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Peace prevails in Rwanda presidential election

(eTN) - As suggested by this correspondent in several articles leading up to the presidential elections in Rwanda, it was indeed the case as the "land of a thousand hills," Rwanda, went to the polls on Monday, August 9, that voting took place in a secure and peaceful fashion right across the country. President Paul Kagame was re-elected to a seven-year term by about 93 percent of the votes.

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Rwanda: 2010 Elections - Interim Statement

The Commonwealth was invited to observe the 9 August 2010 elections by the National Electoral Commission. The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth decided to deploy a 13-person Observer Group supported by a staff team from the Secretariat. I am honoured to have been asked to Chair the Group, which has been present in the country since 2 August 2010.

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AFP: Rwanda poll campaign 'free of intimidation'

The African Union team monitoring Rwanda's presidential election said on Sunday it has not received any proof of voter intimidation during a tense poll campaign. "We have not received any evidence of intimidation," Anil K. Gayan, the former Mauritius foreign minister heading the AU delegation told journalists.

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Reuters: Rwandan foreign minister backs press controls

Rwanda needs to tightly control journalists and politicians to prevent the ethnically divisive rhetoric that sparked a 1994 genocide, Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said on Monday. Rwandan President Paul Kagame is expected to win an Aug. 9 election, but critics have expressed concerns about an increasingly repressive environment ahead of the poll in the impoverished central African nation.

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AP: Rwanda minister denies government role in attacks

Rwanda's foreign minister on Monday vehemently denied the government was involved in three recent high-profile attacks on opponents, saying investigators and journalists should be searching for people trying to create chaos ahead of upcoming elections.

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Der Spiegel: Interview with Rwandan President Paul Kagame 'We Are Far from Exhausting Our Potential'

In a SPIEGEL interview, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, 52, discusses the failures of the African elite, the trouble with development aid coming from the West and the problems his country has had reconciling after the 1994 genocide.

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Rwanda’s deputy speaker to challenge Kagame

Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo, Rwanda’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament, is the first official opposition challenger of President Paul Kagame in the August presidential elections. Dr Ntawukuriryayo, who has been in political activity since Rwanda’s pre-genocidal era, was chosen by his political party the Social Democratic Party (PSD) on Saturday as its flag bearer for the elections slated for August 9.

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