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00:00Out of the nine aspiring candidates for the Rwandan presidency, only three applications
00:05were approved by the Electoral Commission. Firstly, that of President Paul Kagame seeking
00:09re-election for a fourth term next month. Opposing him are an independent candidate,
00:13Philippe Paimana, and notably Frank Abineza, often described as the only tolerated opposition
00:20in the country, leading the Democratic Green Party. Abineza received less than 1% of the
00:25vote in 2017. He asserts that his party has grown since then and is ready for the campaign,
00:31which will start on June 22nd.
00:34We struggled so much. We've been preparing for this for over 34 years, preparing for
00:38this. So it was an achievement on our side. You see that there's progress, story by story,
00:44there's progress of the political space, but of course we're still demanding for more and
00:48more widening of the political space, but at least we appreciate that there is a way
00:52forward. So there are like nine parties together and we're just one against nine. So it's like
00:59us against the whole country. So it's a bit scary, but we are strong. We did it before
01:05and we survived. We shall do it again and we shall overcome.
01:09Most parties have rallied behind Kagame's Rwandan patriotic front for these elections.
01:14Facing them, Abineza plans to highlight issues of individual freedoms, politics, food security
01:19and unemployment, which is still high in the country, especially among the youth. The Electoral
01:23Commission confirmed the rejection of Diane Rwegara's application, a critic of the regime.
01:29According to the commission, some documents are missing for her candidacy, but Rwegara
01:34claims on social media that she's been cheated of her right to campaign by Paul Kagame.