KIGALI: Rwanda’s ruling party Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) on Saturday continued party primaries for parliamentary elections due in September, with four contenders being elected in each district.
Voters in each district elected four people from the 20 candidates who were selected at cell levels, the party explained in a tweet. In every district, four contenders include two women and two men.
A voter in Kigali’s Gasabo district told Express News that she considered candidates they trusted to work toward the improvement of people’s welfare, maintain unity, democracy and country’s development.
Some 1500 party representatives from across Gasabo district participated in the Saturday’s election, according to the party.
The final list that the RPF will submit to the electoral body – National Electoral Commission (NEC) will have 80 candidates, according to RPF.
Rwanda is set to hold parliamentary elections from Sept. 2 to 4 to elect all the 80 members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, for a five-year term, according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
The elections of the lower house use one single nationwide constituency, where 53 seats will be directly elected by proportional representation. The other 27 seats are reserved special interest groups who are: women (24 seats), youth (two seats) and persons living with disabilities (one seat).
The 3rd Parliament which was elected in 2013 handed women an overwhelming majority in Rwanda’s Parliament, an unprecedented 64 per cent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Out of the 53 directly contested seats, the RPF-led coalition took 41 seats.
Article 75 Section 4 of the Constitution states that At least thirty percent (30%) of deputies must be women.
Article 65 of the guiding principles of members of Parliament states that “every member of Parliament represents the nation as a whole and not only those who elected or nominated him or her, or the political organisation which seconded his or her candidacy during elections.”
The revised constitution in its Article 76 provides that deputies are elected to a five-year (5) term and they may be re-elected to additional terms.
The application for the candidature of this year’s parliamentary elections will be received from July 12 to 25, and the confirmed candidates will be announced on Aug. 6. The electoral campaigns will be held between Aug. 13 and Sept. 1, according to NEC.
The Express News
