Foreign affairs minister Olivier Nduhungirehe has said Rwanda rejected a request to withdraw Louise Mushikiwabo's candidacy as Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), arguing that no country has the authority to dictate another member state's choice of candidate. Nduhungirehe said the request, reportedly made by French President Emmanuel Macron to President Paul Kagame, was inconsistent with the organisation's rules, which give member states the right to nominate candidates and provide for a consensus-based selection process or an election where consensus cannot be reached. Speaking to RBA on Saturday, November 14, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where the 20th Francophonie Summit is taking place, the minister said Rwanda could not accept a demand to withdraw its candidate simply because another country wanted it to do so. First and foremost, let me state that Rwanda is not a country that takes orders from another nation, regardless of how wealthy that nation might be. No country has the right to demand that a state which has put forward a candidate should withdraw that candidate, he said. He explained that presenting a candidate is a right enjoyed by Rwanda and all the organisation's 53 full member states, which are entitled to participate in the selection of the Secretary-General. According to Nduhungirehe, the rules require member states to first seek consensus on who should lead the organisation. If they fail to agree, the process should proceed to an election. He said Rwanda's position was therefore that the selection should follow the established procedures rather than arrangements driven by the influence of individual countries. Therefore, the required course of action is to seek a consensus, as the rules dictate, and there are currently three candidates remaining. If that proves impossible, we will proceed to an election, he said. Nduhungirehe argued that the current framework marks a departure from previous practices in which powerful countries could influence the selection of the organisation's leadership without a formal vote. He cited the 2014 Francophonie Summit in Dakar, Senegal, where three African candidates were competing for the position but failed to reach a consensus. The minister recalled that the then French President François Hollande subsequently presented another candidate as a consensus choice, who went on to become Secretary-General. However, the 'old' Francophonie where a single country assumed it had the authority to make decisions, is a thing of the past, Nduhungirehe said. He maintained that the current rules do not allow such an arrangement, adding that member states must be allowed to exercise their voting rights if they cannot agree on a candidate. Clearly, that era has come to an end; such a scenario is no longer possible because we now have clear, explicit rules governing the election of the Secretary General of the Francophonie, he said. How the election works The leadership contest comes ahead of the election scheduled for Monday, November 16, during the 20th Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh. The OIF brings together 90 member states and governments, comprising 53 full members, five associate members and 32 observers. However, only the 53 full members have voting rights in the selection of the Secretary-General. The decision is made by heads of state and government, or their representatives, during a closed session of the summit. Member states first seek consensus, but if no agreement is reached, a vote is held, with the winner determined by a simple majority of votes cast by members present and voting. The election follows the withdrawal of DR Congo's candidate, Juliana Amato Lumumba, whose government announced on Saturday that it was considering supporting former Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș as a consensus candidate. The remaining contenders are Mushikiwabo, who is seeking a third term, Mauritania's Coumba Bâ and Cioloș. Mushikiwabo has led the organisation since January 2019, after first being elected in 2018 and securing a second term in 2022. The next Secretary-General will serve a four-year mandate covering 2027 to 2030.
