List of presidents of Rwanda

This article lists the presidents of Rwanda since the creation of the office in 1961 (during the Rwandan Revolution), to the present day.

The president of Rwanda is the head of state and head of executiveTemplate:Sfn of the Republic of Rwanda. The president is elected every seven years by popular vote,Template:Sfn and appoints the prime minister and all other members of Cabinet.Template:Sfn

A total of four people have served in the office. The incumbent president is Paul Kagame, who took office on 22 April 2000, after being acting president for nearly a month.

Term limits

There was a two-term limit for the president in the Constitution of Rwanda. The constitutional referendum in 2015 allowed Paul Kagame third seven-year term, and ability to run for further two five-year terms thereafter.

List of officeholders

Political parties

  Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement (Parmehutu)

  National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND)

  Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)

Status

Template:If empty Denotes acting president

List of presidents of Rwanda

Template:Abbr		Portrait	Name Template:Small	Elected	Term of office			Ethnic group	Political party	Prime minister(s)	Template:Ref.
					Took office	Left office	Time in office
Republic of Rwanda Template:Small
Template:Sort	style="background:Template:Party color" |	File:No image.png	Template:SortnameTemplate:Double dagger Template:Small	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Hutu	Parmehutu	Kayibanda
1	style="background:Template:Party color" |	Grégoire Kayibanda	Template:Sortname Template:Small	1961	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Hutu	Parmehutu	Himself
Republic of Rwanda Template:Small
Template:Sort	style="background:Template:Party color" |	Grégoire Kayibanda	Template:Sortname Template:Small	1965 1969	Template:Dts	Template:Dts Template:Small	Template:Ayd	Hutu	Parmehutu	Position abolished
2	style="background:Template:Party color" |	Juvénal Habyarimana	Template:Sortname Template:Small Template:Efn	1978 1983 1988	Template:Dts	Template:Dts Template:Small	Template:Ayd	Hutu	MRND / Military	Position abolished Template:Small Nsanzimana Nsengiyaremye Uwilingiyimana
Vacant (Template:Dts – Template:Dts)
Template:Sort	style="background:Template:Party color" |	File:No image.png	Template:SortnameTemplate:Double dagger Template:Small Template:Efn	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts Template:Small Template:Efn	Template:Ayd	Hutu	MRND	Kambanda
3	style="background:Template:Party color" |	Pasteur Bizimungu	Template:Sortname Template:Small	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts Template:Small	Template:Ayd	Hutu	RPF	Twagiramungu Rwigema Makuza
4	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Party color" |	Paul Kagame	Template:Sortname Template:Small	—	Template:DtsTemplate:Double dagger	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Tutsi	RPF	Makuza Habumuremyi Murekezi Ngirente Nsengiyumva
	2003 2010 2017 2024			Template:Dts	Incumbent

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:150 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = 14/04/2026

Colors =

 id:mil       value:rgb(0.76,0.69,0.57) legend:Military
 id:parmehutu value:rgb(0.55,0.27,0.07) legend:Party_of_the_Hutu_Emancipation_Movement
 id:mrnd      value:rgb(0,0,0)          legend:National_Republican_Movement_for_Democracy_and_Development
 id:fpr       value:rgb(0.1,0.3,0.91)   legend:Rwandan_Patriotic_Front

 id:gray1  value:gray(0.85)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1961 till:31/12/2027 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1965 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1961

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170

TextData =

 pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political party:"

BarData =

bar:Mbonyumutwa
bar:Kayibanda
bar:Habyarimana
bar:Sindikubwabo
bar:Bizimungu
bar:Kagame

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Mbonyumutwa
 from: 28/01/1961 till: 26/10/1961 color:parmehutu text:"Dominique Mbonyumutwa (interim)"
bar:Kayibanda
 from: 26/10/1961 till: 05/07/1973 color:parmehutu text:"Grégoire Kayibanda"
bar:Habyarimana
 from: 05/07/1973 till: 05/07/1975 color:mil
 from: 05/07/1975 till: 06/04/1994 color:mrnd      text:"Juvénal Habyarimana"
bar:Sindikubwabo
 from: 08/04/1994 till: 19/07/1994 color:mrnd      text:"Théodore Sindikubwabo (interim)"
bar:Bizimungu
 from: 19/07/1994 till: 23/03/2000 color:fpr       text:"Pasteur Bizimungu"
bar:Kagame
 from: 24/03/2000 till: $today     color:fpr       text:"Paul Kagame"

</timeline>

Latest election

2024 Rwandan general election

See also

• Politics of Rwanda
• List of kings of Rwanda
• Vice President of Rwanda
• Prime Minister of Rwanda
• List of colonial governors of Ruanda-Urundi
  • List of colonial residents of Rwanda

External links

• World Statesmen – Rwanda