Rwandan Patriotic Front

The Rwandan Patriotic Front  is the ruling political party in Rwanda. The leader is President Paul Kagame. It has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winning the Rwandan Civil War in 1994.
Overview
It has been called authoritarian. Elections are not fair. Opposition parties have been banned.  People who criticise them have been arrested or assassinated. There has been electoral fraud.
Founding
The party was started by  Tutsi refugee intelligentsia in Uganda in 1979.  It was called Rwandese Alliance for National Unity.  In December 1987, it held its seventh congress in Kampala and changed its name.  In 1990 they invaded Rwanda, starting the Rwandan Civil War.   in 1994, it formed a government of national unity headed by a Hutu president, Pasteur Bizimungu.   
Post-Rwandan genocide
In February 1998, Kagame was elected president of the RPF, replacing Alexis Kanyarengwe, and in March 2000 he became the national president. Following a constitutional referendum in 2003, Kagame was elected president with 95% of the vote. The RPF formed a coalition with several smaller parties, which got 74% of the vote in the 2003 parliamentary elections, winning 40 of the 53 elected seats in the Chamber of Deputies. 

The coalition won 42 seats in the 2008 parliamentary elections, and Kagame was re-elected as president in 2010 with 93% of the vote.  In the 2013 parliamentary elections the RPF-led coalition won 41 seats.

Related pages
 Rwandan genocide
References

Category:Africa
Category:Rwanda
Category:Political parties in Rwanda