Free and Fair

The presidential elections are coming up quickly in Rwanda. Rwandans will cast their ballots on August 9th. Although I am not allowed to talk about Rwandan politics with Rwandas, I am allowed to spout off as much as I want to other Americans and my blog. Nothing is really more interesting than witnessing democracy in the Third World. Will the elections truly be free and fair? Who knows. Considering I'm not allowed to be anywhere near a polling station I certainly won't be able to monitor or observe in any capacity.

One thing I love about Rwandan politics: candidates are only allowed to campaign for the three weeks before elections. Campaigning includes visiting local communities and giving speeches and during political press conferences promoting your party and such. Can you imagine all those annoying commercials disappearing? That escalating antagonism. Refreshing. Of course I also love how the internet and electricity happens to be reaching my village just as Kagame is coming to promote himself as a candidate. No doubt using the very recent development as a boost for his campaign.

One thing that I hate about Rwandan politics:
Biased media. All of a sudden there are many news segments about the greatness of Kagame, without any mention of other candidates. Democracy has so many angles, it's hard to see them all at once.

One thing that makes me confused:
There are countdowns and notices about the elections everywhere. On the Rwandan TV channel, in the top left corner is a little countdown. It shows the number of days until you can cast your vote in patriotic colors with a thumbs up. Along the major roads there are billboards proclaiming the election date and reminding people to vote. What confuses me is that most that I have seen have been in English. Yes there are some in Kinyarwandan. But really, isn't that a little elitist to have signs in English when the majority of the population can't speak it, except for the rich and educated people?