KIGALI: Rwanda has overwhelmingly voted to change the constitution to allow President Paul Kagame to potentially rule until 2034, election officials said on Saturday citing partial referendum results.
“We have seen the will of the people. It’s clear that what the people want, they can achieve,” said National Electoral Commission chief Kalisa Mbanda, announcing 98.1 percent had voted “yes” with preliminary results in from some 70 percent of the country.
“They called for the change of the constitution and they have made it,” the pro-government New Times newspaper quoted him as saying.
Kagame, 58, could now be in power potentially for another 17 years.
“What is happening is the people’s choice,” he told reporters after casting his vote on Friday.
The amendment allows Kagame to run for a third seven-year term in 2017, at the end of which the new rules take effect and he will be eligible to run for a further two five-year terms. The United States and European Union have denounced the proposed amendments as undermining democracy in the central African country.
On Friday, the EU delegation in Kigali said there had been a lack of “sufficient time and space for debate” on the issue, with the date for the referendum only announced on December 8 and the draft of the changes “only published publically less than one day ahead of the vote.”
“The short time between the announcement and the holding of the referendum left little or no opportunity for all parties to present their arguments,” the EU said.
Rwanda vote grants extra terms for Kagame
Rwanda vote grants extra terms for Kagame
G.Bissau opposition leader summoned by military court: sources
- Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the PAIGC party, which led the coastal west African country to independence from Portugal in 1974, was arrested on the day of the November coup
BISSAU: Guinea-Bissau’s main opposition leader has been summoned to appear before a military court over alleged links to multiple coup plots, judicial and military sources told AFP.
The junta has imprisoned senior politicians after overthrowing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and seizing power in November, just days after presidential elections.
Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the PAIGC party, which led the coastal west African country to independence from Portugal in 1974, was arrested on the day of the November coup.
SPEEDREAD
• Domingos Simoes Pereira is suspected of involvement in at least two attempted coups, in late 2023 and October 2025, a source said.
• Guinea-Bissau has experienced five coups and a string of attempted military takeovers since independence.
• Crippling poverty, chaotic administration and political chaos have also made Guinea-Bissau a fertile ground for corruption.
He was freed late last month but was placed under house arrest because of separate investigations into alleged financial crimes.
He will be questioned on Friday for his “alleged involvement in a coup attempt,” a source close to the military court told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“There are a lot of suspicions hanging over him regarding his alleged involvement in several subversive actions,” a senior officer said.
Pereira is suspected of involvement in at least two attempted coups, in late 2023 and October 2025, the same source added.
Guinea-Bissau has experienced five coups and a string of attempted military takeovers since independence.
Crippling poverty, chaotic administration and political chaos have also made Guinea-Bissau a fertile ground for corruption and drug smuggling.
