RWANDA: Court dismisses Twagiramungu's petition against Kagame's election

Photo: Jacques Collet

Faustin Twagiramungu loses bid to overturn presidential vote.

KIGALI, 2 September 2003 (IRIN) - Rwanda's Supreme Court dismissed on Tuesday a petition against the election of incumbent President Paul Kagame filed by his main opponent in the recently concluded election, Faustin Twagiramungu. "The petition is not backed by any evidence to support the accusations. We therefore dismiss this petition," Justice Louis Marie Mugyenzi, of the Supreme Court, ruled. In its ruling, the court said it had asked Twagiramungu to provide evidence to back his accusations before preliminary hearings could start. However, in a reply to the court on Monday, Twagiramungu said he would drop the case, although he asked the court to consider his "protest" before endorsing the election results. "I am writing to inform the Supreme Court that I do not intend to pursue the case further," he said in a letter to the court. "However, I request the Supreme Court to take into account my protest when the time for comes approving the result." Twagiramungu told IRIN on Tuesday he had lost confidence in the "partiality" of certain Rwandan institutions and, therefore, decided not to pursue the petition. "I do not think this would go far," he said. Rwanda's electoral law stipulates that upon announcing final electoral results, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) must then forward the results to the Supreme Court, which must approve them. Rwanda held its first post-genocide presidential polls on 25 August, in which Kagame was declared the winner with over 95 percent of the ballots cast. Twagiramungu, who came in a distant second in a three-man contest, won 3.62 percent of votes. Twagiramungu, 58, filed the election petition on Thursday, citing vote rigging, intimidation of his supporters, general violation of the electoral law and pressure on voters to choose Kagame as cause to nullify the polls. Twagiramungu also questioned the partiality of the NEC throughout the elections process. The EU observer mission of Rwanda's polls reported that although the election was a "positive step" for Rwanda's democratisation process, it was marred by "numerous election irregularities". Twagiramungu's withdrawal of his petition clears Kagame as the winner of Rwanda's first multiparty elections, with the Supreme Court expected to endorse the election results on Tuesday. Kagame, 45, is scheduled to take his oath of office on 12 September.