Kigali--The list of supporters is long: more than two-fifths of Rwanda's voters have signed a petition calling for constitutional reform to allow strongman Paul Kagame a third term in power.
The authorities speak of a popular mass movement, critics of a manipulation of power.
As the second and final seven-year mandate of Rwanda's president draws to a close, there are increasing indications he may join other African leaders in changing the rules to stay put in elections due in 2017.
Kagame is a "gift from God," said Aimable Ngendahayo, one of the 2.5 million people who have signed the petition calling for a change of Article 101 of the constitution, which limits the president to two terms.
The move comes amid a wider controversy in Africa over efforts by leaders to change constitutions in order to stay in office.
Kagame, 57, has been at the top of Rwandan politics since 1994, when an offensive by his ethnic Tutsi rebel force, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), put an end to a genocide by Hutu extremists that left an estimated 800,000 mostly Tutsis dead.
As minister of defence and then vice president, Kagame was widely seen as the power behind the throne even before he took the presidency in 2003, winning 95 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2010 with a similarly resounding mandate.
AFP
