Diane Rwigara, an outspoken critic of Rwandan President Kagame, has been barred from standing in next month\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n
Only Mr Kagame and two other politicians – Frank Habineza<\/a><\/span><\/span> of the Democratic Green Party and independent Philippe Mpayimana – were cleared by the electoral body.<\/p>\n Ms Rwigara, who was also disqualified from the 2017 poll, took to X, formerly Twitter, to express her disappointment to Mr Kagame.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy won’t you let me run? This is the second time you [have] cheat[ed] me out of my right to campaign,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The 42-year-old, who is the leader of the People Salvation Movement (PSM), had earlier told the BBC\u2019s Newsday programme that she had hoped to be able to stand this time round.<\/p>\n “I’m representing the vast majority of Rwandans who live in fear and are not allowed to be free in their own country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cRwanda is portrayed as a country where the economy has been growing. But on the ground, it’s different. People do lack the basics of life, food, water, shelter.”<\/p>\n But on issuing its provisional list of candidates, the electoral commission said Ms Rwigara had failed to provide the correct documentation to show she had no criminal record.<\/p>\n It also said she had failed to show she had enough support nationwide to stand.<\/p>\n “On the requirement for 600 signature endorsements, she did not provide at least 12 signatures from eight districts,” Oda Gasinzigwa, the electoral commission chief, was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n Another reason the commission gave was that Ms Rwigara had failed to prove she was Rwandan by birth. She once held Belgian citizenship but surrendered that in 2017 before her last bid to become a candidate.<\/p>\n But Ms Rwigara has told the BBC that she was born in Rwanda and dismissed all the other grounds for the rejection of her candidacy.<\/p>\n A total of nine applications to stand for president were received by Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission. Their final list will be announced next Friday as it still considering appeals lodged earlier in the process \u2013 though at this stage it is too late for the PSM leader to appeal.<\/p>\n In 2017 she was barred following accusations of forging the signatures of supporters for her application.<\/p>\n Ms Rwigara was imprisoned for more than a year but acquitted in 2018 over charges of inciting insurrection and forgery<\/a>. She said the charges were politically motivated.<\/p>\n