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Rwandan Parliament debates on presidential term limits

Xinhua, July 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Rwandan lawmakers of both the Lower Chamber of the House and Senators Tuesday started debate on citizens' petitions requesting amendment of the Constitution to scrap presidential terms.

Close to four million Rwandans petitioned Parliament asking amendment of Article 101 of the Constitution which limits the President to two seven-year terms.

With two years left to the next election, the move is widely seen as intended to give President Paul Kagame a chance to run for a third term in office in the 2017 presidential elections.

After the debate 79 out of 80 MPs voted in favor of the proposal to amend article 101 of the constitution to remove term limits. The MPs said they would carry out more consultations.

Previously, President Kagame has stated his interest not to run for another term, though he insists that Rwandans have the right to decide their destiny.

The petitions were from different interest groups, including farmer's cooperative societies, students, women's, youth and religious groups among others.

Rwanda's second largest political party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), has backed the removal of term limits for elected political leaders in the country's constitution.

Rwanda's Supreme Court on July 8 adjourned the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda's case against the change of the constitution to July 29 after the party's lawyer failed to turn up. Endi