The United States (US) has condemned Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame’s decision to run for a third term in 2017, saying it was “deeply disappointed” and concerned by the move.
The US and the European Union (EU) have consistently expressed strong opposition to Kagame’s stay in power beyond 2017, and had called on him not to run for a third term, and instead allow new faces to emerge and democracy to flourish.
“With this decision, President Kagame ignores a historic opportunity to reinforce and solidify the democratic institutions the Rwandan people have for more than 20 years laboured so hard to establish,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement.
“The United States believes constitutional transitions of power are essential for strong democracies and that efforts by incumbents to change rules to stay in power weaken democratic institutions,” Kirby said in the strongly worded statement.
Kagame was elected with 90% ballots cast in both 2003 and 2010, and before the referendum, he said that its outcome would determine whether he would seek a third term at the end of his current.
Majority of the voters in the referendum voted in favour of constitutional changes to enable him stay in power beyond 2017.
“You have asked me to lead the country after 2017. Given the importance you ascribe to this matter, I can only accept,” he said in a televised New Year address.
