Rwanda's main opposition party, the Democratic Green Party, has petitioned parliament seeking reforms in the electoral laws that it claims are a stumbling block to political organisations in the country.

The Greens specifically describe as flawed some provisions in the elections and political parties law.

These are mainly articles putting funding restrictions on political organisations, as well as those requiring a certain percentage of votes prior to securing a parliamentary seat for both political parties and independent candidates.

The party said it wants the changes effected before the country goes to presidential and parliamentary polls next year and 2018 respectively.

“We need to have the electoral reforms before the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections,” Dr Frank Habineza, head of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, said after submitting the petition on Wednesday.

“That is why we have brought our petition early enough, so that the parliament gets time to examine our concerns and effect the changes,” he added.

While Article 24 of the law governing political parties bars them from receiving foreign aid, and Article 28 requires a party to have at least 5 per cent of the votes cast to qualify for government funding, the Green Party argues that the clauses ought to be amended since they favour the strong parties.

Other contentious issues are to do with the 5 per cent votes cast required by the elections law for a candidate and a political party to secure one seat in the parliament.

According to the opposition, it’s impossible for an individual to be considered a political party. “We wish that the threshold be 2 per cent for an independent candidate, and the 5 per cent for political parties be reduced to 4 per cent,” Dr Habineza said.

Equally, the Green Party wants the election law to allow a combination of ballot and electronic voting to ensure more transparency and confidence in the electoral commission.

The party also requests that the electoral authorities allow election observers to be present at all the polling and tallying centres, and the media to announce results after they have been declared at all the levels.