Rwanda: Government Withdraws Controversial Measure For Presidential Election

In Rwanda, the electoral commission (NEC) announced on Thursday (June 1st) that it was renouncing a controversial directive authorizing it to control the campaign content of presidential candidates on social networks.

The measure, which was to take effect on 14 July, the date of the start of the electoral campaign. It demanded that all presidential candidates send to the NEC for validation, at least 48 hours in advance, the messages they wanted to publish on social networks. The emergence of shocks caused by the measure seems to have been due to the Rwandan electoral commission.

"  Candidates will be able to publish content on social networks without going through the electoral commission and if they commit mistakes they will face the law," said Thursday evening the president of NEC Kalisa Mbanda. The electoral commission, therefore, renounces its controversial directive. And for good reason, the pressure was strong.

The first criticisms came from the Rwandan opposition, who expressed fears that it would be used to silence any criticism of the current government. Then, diplomats in Kigali expressed concern about what they termed a serious limitation on freedom of expression.

In the aftermath, it was the Rwandan government through the voice of its spokesman that challenged it. "  Without offending the NEC, candidates should be able to express themselves freely on social networks,  " Louise Mushikiwabo tweeted Wednesday. The last reaction before the measure was abandoned came from the media regulatory authority. RURA considered that the electoral commission simply had "  no mandate to regulate or interrupt the use of social networks by citizens  ".

The regulator assured that it had not been consulted by the NEC on this matter. "  We want to reaffirm the right of citizens to express themselves on social networks,  " he said.