Rwandan President Paul Kagame, in power for 22 years, opened the door to a candidacy in the next presidential election of 2024, in an interview with the France 24 channel broadcast on Friday.
"
I plan to run for 20 more years, I have no problem with that
," said Paul Kagame, when asked about his possible candidacy in 2024. "
Elections are an opportunity for people to choose
", he added.
A strongman in the country since the 1994 genocide, president since 2000, Paul Kagame had the Constitution amended in 2015, which theoretically allows him to remain in power until 2034. During an interview with AFP in May 2021 , the Rwandan president, questioned on the same subject, had affirmed that the election was still far away and that he was devoting himself to the problems of his country and the continent.
"
I don't think about it much, I don't worry about it
," he said.
Read alsoRwanda: Paul Kagame, the paradoxical autocrat, wants seven more years
In the last ballot, in 2017, Paul Kagame, 64 years old today, was re-elected for seven years with nearly 99% of the vote.
Paul Kagame was only 36 years old in 1994 when, at the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), he chased out of the country the Hutu extremists responsible for a genocide that killed at least 800,000 people, according to the UN, mainly within of the Tutsi minority.
He acquired a father figure of the Nation as much respected as feared in Rwanda and on the rest of the African continent.
On the outside, critics paint him more as an enlightened despot.