Rwanda’s Democratic Green Party said on Monday it will sit out September’s parliamentary election after the electoral commission took three years to register it, finally doing so just days before the deadline. Analysts say President Paul Kagame has a well-documented record of blocking, threatening or infiltrating rival parties to stifle even nascent political opposition, and that the belated registration of the Democratic Green Party can hardly be seen as a real opening of the democratic space.
Most other parties are allied to Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front, which holds four in five parliamentary seats.
Democratic Green Party president Frank Habineza said the lateness of the registration meant it was “not possible to have all the necessary requirements” to field candidates in the election.
Full Article: Rwanda opposition party to sit out vote after late registration | Reuters.
