The Liberal Party (PL), a member of the consultative forum of political parties, has announced its intentions to field a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for August 9. In a statement released yesterday by the central executive committee of the party which met on the April 22, it was resolved that PL fields a candidate. The party is scheduled to hold a congress in May where the candidate to vie for the presidency will be chosen. In an interview with The New Times, Protais Mitali, the president of the party, said that the decision was reached after realising that the party had matured politically and was ready to field a candidate. “We are more than ready, we have been preparing for this for quite some time and this is the right time,” Mitali said. “Our party has been around for quite sometime, we served in the transition government, and we participated in parliamentary elections. In 2003 party members agreed to support President Paul Kagame but today we think the party has reached a level of fielding its own candidate.” In the September 2003 parliamentary polls, PL won 10.6% of the popular vote and six of the53 seats in the House. In the 2008 election, the party won four seats. Ends
