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Rwandans abroad decide on Kagame third term

Thursday, 17 December 2015 6:02 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 17 December 2015 6:51 PM ]

A man walking to a voting booth at a polling station on December 17, 2015 at the Rwandan High Commission in Nairobi. (Photo by AFP)

Thousands of Rwandans living abroad have headed to the polls to vote on a proposed constitutional change which would allow President Paul Kagame to be at the helm until 2034.

The referendum on Thursday, held a day ahead of the main vote inside the country, is about a constitutional change that would reduce presidential terms to five years and maintain a two-term limit with Kagame being an exception.

The constitutional amendment would allow him to run for a third seven-year term in 2017, at the end of which under the new rules he will be eligible to run for a further two five-year terms until 2034.

A file picture taken on April 16, 2015 shows Rwandan President Paul Kagame talking during a press conference in Ethiopia. (Photo by AFP)

"Initial indications show that the whole exercise will be a wrap-up in favor of changing the constitution," The New Times newspaper published in the Rwandan capital Kigali wrote on Thursday, adding, "No arm-twisting or threats can defeat the will of the people."

"I came to vote... because we want our president to continue leading us," said Annet Mukayiramba, 22, who voted in neighboring Uganda's capital Kampala.

Some 37,000 people have registered to vote overseas with another 6.4 million are eligible to cast their ballots across the nation in the main vote on Friday.

President Kagame has been in power since 2000 and is known to rule with an iron hand. Rebels led by Kagame put an end to the genocide by the majority Hutus, in which more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed.

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