{"id":2000121932,"date":"2026-08-10T09:59:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000121932"},"modified":"2026-08-10T09:59:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:59:58","slug":"leonard-ndagijimana-elected-new-pdc-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/leonard-ndagijimana-elected-new-pdc-president\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u00e9onard Ndagijimana elected new PDC president"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The election took place in Kigali on Sunday, August 9, 2026, during a congress that elected members of the party\u2019s leadership at all levels. It was attended by representatives of the party from district to national level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndagijimana secured 79 of the 103 votes cast, defeating his challenger Mukakarangwa Clothilde, who received 24 votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new PDC president said his priorities will include strengthening unity within the party, building its institutional capacity and securing permanent premises for its operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party currently operates from rented offices and owns two undeveloped plots of land that it intends to develop into permanent headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, it is about building fraternity. We also have plots of land that have remained undeveloped for a long time, and we have to build offices on them,\u201d Ndagijimana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said he would focus on making the party\u2019s political programmes more appealing to young people, who he described as an important part of the party\u2019s membership and its future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndagijimana has been a member of PDC for 34 years and served as its Secretary General since 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He served in the Chamber of Deputies from 2018 to 2024 and previously worked as a commissioner at the National Electoral Commission. He has also held positions in the former Ministry of Environment and Tourism, as well as responsibilities related to education, research and project management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mukabaranga, who has now left the party\u2019s top leadership position, first headed PDC in an acting capacity in 2009 before being elected for two terms. Her second term ended in 2023, when new elections were expected to be held but were delayed until this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several other officials were elected to work with Ndagijimana in the new leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyer Vincent Rugema was elected First Vice President with 80 votes, while Mukabasebya Claudette was elected Second Vice President with 95 votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ildephonse Nkiliye was elected Secretary General with 95 votes, while Beno\u00eet Sikubwabo became Treasurer after receiving 53 votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9nie Niyodusingiza was elected president of the PDC-affiliated youth league, while Aline Umubyeyi was elected to lead the party\u2019s women\u2019s league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party also elected provincial representatives, including Esp\u00e9rance Nyiraneza for the Western Province, Jean-Baptiste Gatsinzi for the Eastern Province, Augustin Uwereyimfura for the Southern Province, Thierry Niyibizi for the Northern Province and Cl\u00e9mence Uwamahoro for the City of Kigali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other party officials, including members of various PDC commissions, were also elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PDC\u2019s history<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PDC was established in 1991 by Jean N\u00e9pomusc\u00e8ne Nayinzira and other political figures amid growing pressure for Rwanda to adopt a multiparty political system beyond the ruling MRND party under President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party was initially established as the Christian Democratic Party (Parti D\u00e9mocratique Chr\u00e9tien). It later changed its name to the Centrist Democratic Party (Parti D\u00e9mocrate Centriste) following constitutional restrictions on political parties based on religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PDC was among the political parties that supported the Arusha Peace negotiations, which sought power-sharing and a lasting political settlement in Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the party continued its political activities, and in 2003 it joined an alliance of political parties that supported the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) during the presidential and parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PDC won three seats in the Chamber of Deputies in the 2003 elections, while its then-president, Alfred Mukezamfura, was elected Speaker of the Chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The election took place in Kigali on Sunday, August 9, 2026, during a congress that elected members of the party\u2019s leadership at all levels. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The new committee representing youth at the PDC <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Agn\u00e8s Mukabaranga has led the party for more than a decade.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L\u00e9onard Ndagijimana, a former member of Rwanda\u2019s Chamber of Deputies, has been elected president of the Centrist Democratic Party (PDC) for a five-year term, succeeding Agn\u00e8s Mukabaranga, who had led the party for more than a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000121937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000121932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000121937,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ndagijimana_leonard_yatorewe_kuyobora_ishyaka_pdc-0bdf9.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":600,"height":424,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ndagijimana_leonard_yatorewe_kuyobora_ishyaka_pdc-0bdf9.jpg","width":600,"height":424},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ndagijimana_leonard_yatorewe_kuyobora_ishyaka_pdc-0bdf9.jpg","width":600,"height":424},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ndagijimana_leonard_yatorewe_kuyobora_ishyaka_pdc-0bdf9.jpg","width":600,"height":424},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ndagijimana_leonard_yatorewe_kuyobora_ishyaka_pdc-0bdf9.jpg","width":600,"height":424},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ndagijimana_leonard_yatorewe_kuyobora_ishyaka_pdc-0bdf9.jpg","width":600,"height":424}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000121932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000121932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000121932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000121938,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000121932\/revisions\/2000121938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000121937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000121932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000121932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000121932"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000121932"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000121932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}