Rwandan presidential election, 2003
The presidential elections in Rwanda in 2003 were held on 25 August 2003. These were the first elections in Rwanda after the Rwandan civil war 1990-1993 and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994., The current President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, won with a good 95 % of the vote.
The Norwegian Institute of Human Rights ( NORDEM ) certified the election process, that he "did not gave rise to the feeling among the Rwandans to have a choice." Also, " respect for the secrecy of the ballot and the freedom of choice of the voters do not often given " was. Although the elections thus did not meet international standards, the election observers apologized this simultaneously with the extreme conditions after the genocide in Rwanda.
Background
Although Rwanda was formally a multiparty democracy since 1991, the elections Rwandan Patriotic Front and its candidate Paul Kagame took place under the condition of a clear dominance of the ruling party. The 2003 constitution, electoral law and especially the law against " divisionism " led to an atmosphere of reduced freedom in the run-up to the elections. Background of the laws mentioned was the experience of the genocide of the 1990s, which had about 800,000 people dead, respectively. The electoral law forbade example Parties who acted on ethnic, religious or any other " Divisionist " (ie exclusionary ) basis, which could lead to discrimination. Under the prevailing conditions, such as in Rwanda the prohibition of the then largest opposition party, the Mouvement républicain national pour la démocratie et le développement, which was deeply involved in the genocide, and the strong control of the ruling party through the media created the anti - discrimination laws, a situation in which all dissent easily as " divisionistic " could be denigrated.