Deadly start to election campaign

One person has died and dozens were injured during a stampede at President Paul Kagame's weekend rally, ahead of a vote widely expected to extend the incumbent's 24-year iron-fisted rule. Kagame has been Rwanda's ruler since the end of the 1994 genocide which claimed some 800 000 lives. News24 reports that Kagame addressed rallies in Musanze and Rubavu in northern Rwanda at the weekend. ‘One person died and 37 others were injured in a stampede that occurred during the RPF-Inkotanyi campaigns in Rubavu on Sunday,’ the state-run Rwanda Broadcasting Agency reported, using the official name for Kagame's party. Rwandan courts rejected appeals from prominent opposition figures Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire to remove previous convictions that effectively barred them from contesting the poll. The election commission also barred Kagame critic Diane Rwigara, saying she had failed to provide a criminal record statement as required, and had not met the threshold of acquiring 600 supporting signatures from citizens.

Full News24 report