The Republic of Rwanda is politically a de facto one-party republic governed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and its leader, Paul Kagame, who was formally elected in 2000, since the RPF played the primary role in ending the 1994 genocide. Although Rwanda is nominally democratic, elections are manipulated in various ways, which include banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud.

Rwandan legislation has developed from Belgian and German civil law systems, with the country's customary law taking place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the president of Rwanda serves as the head of state, possessing significant executive power, together with the prime minister of Rwanda serving as the constitutional head of government.

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. On 5 May 1995, the Transitional National Assembly adopted a new constitution that incorporates elements of the 18 June 1991 constitution as well as provisions of the 1993 Arusha Accords and the November 1994 multiparty protocol of understanding.

In Rwanda, the Chamber of Deputies is composed of eighty Deputies. Among them, fifty-three Deputies are elected by direct universal suffrage in secret, from a fixed list of names of candidates proposed by political organizations or independent candidates; twenty-four women are elected by specific electoral colleges in accordance with the national administrative entities; two Deputies are elected by the National Youth Council; one Deputy is elected by the National Council of Persons with Disabilities.

The Senate is composed of twenty-six members. Among them, there are twelve Senators elected by the specific councils in accordance with the administrative entities; eight Senators appointed by the President of the Republic; four Senators designated by the National Forum of Political organizations; one Senator elected among lecturers and researchers of Public Universities and higher learning institutions; and one Senator elected among lecturers and researchers of Private Universities and higher learning institutions.

After its military victory in July 1994, the Rwandese Patriotic Front organized a coalition government similar to that established by President Juvénal Habyarimana in 1992. Called The Broad Based Government of National Unity, its fundamental law is based on a combination of the constitution, the Arusha accords, and political declarations by the parties. The MRND party was banned.

Political organizing was banned until 2003. The first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections were held in August and September 2003, respectively.

The biggest problems facing the government were the reintegration of more than 2 million refugees returning from as long ago as 1959; the end of the insurgency and counter-insurgency among ex-military and Interahamwe militia and the Rwandan Patriotic Army, which is concentrated in the north and south west; and the shift away from crisis to medium- and long-term development planning. The prison population will continue to be an urgent problem for the foreseeable future, having swelled to more than 100,000 in the 3 years after the war.