Rwanda is now preparing for a referendum on a proposed constitutional amendment to scrap presidential term limits and consequently allow President Paul Kagame to seek a third term.
This follows its parliament’s approval on Tuesday, of a petition filed by over 3 million citizens.
The petition urged for the change in the country’s constitution, to remove the article that limits the presidential tenure to two terms.
Supporters of the petition said Mr Kagame was the right person to lead the country of 11.8 million for another term.
President Kagame has been in power since 2000 after he led a rebel army that ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which about 800,000 people were killed.
Kagame himself hasn’t said whether he’ll stand if deemed eligible for elections scheduled for 2017.
However he has said he is open to persuasion that the two-term limit in the constitution needs to be changed, and a petition to that effect has collected 3.8 million signatures.
MPs voted unanimously on Tuesday to back the petition, adding that a referendum would be called on whether to amend the constitution. Some MP’s say they have already started the referendum process.
The opposition has expressed it’s displeasure over the call for the referendum to change the constitution in favor of President Kagame.
Kagame’s government is credited with turning around Rwanda’s economy in the years since the genocide, but critics say he is an authoritarian ruler who does not tolerate opposition.
Many of his former comrades have fled the country, saying their lives are threatened.
If term limits are removed and Kagame runs again, he would join a growing list of regional leaders whose governments have jettisoned presidential term limits.
In 2005, Ugandan lawmakers removed term limits from the constitution, allowing President Yoweri Museveni to seek re-election in 2006 and 2011. He is expected to run again in 2016.
