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Rwanda opposition petitions PM over electoral reforms

Saturday April 23 2016

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda has appealed to Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi to champion reforms of the national election laws, including the Political Parties Act, which they say sideline opposition groups.

The Greens’ petition to Mr Murekezi comes just over a month after another appeal to the country’s parliament to amend the laws, which it describes as stringent and accommodative to the ruling party and those in the ruling coalition.

The Green Party’s petition to MPs was turned down last month, and Deputy Speaker Jean Uwimanimpaye advised the party to table the matter in parliament, or request the Cabinet to do so as is stipulated in Article 88 of the Constitution.

However, the Greens, the country’s youngest political party, has no Member of Parliament and failed to get an MP to raise the issue in the House.

“The Green Party approached some MPs but none accepted to take this forward, therefore we resolved to request the prime minister, as head of government business, to find an appropriate solution on this important matter before the upcoming presidential election,” the party said in a statement this week.

READ: Rwanda's Green Party petitions Parliament on electoral reforms

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ALSO READ: Rwanda’s Green Party pushes for reforms ahead of polls

Party president Frank Habineza told The EastAfrican that they had previously written to the National Electoral Commission in December 2014 and received a response the same month that did not address all their concerns.

With the 2017 General Election fast approaching, the party wants reforms in the laws to ensure a level playing field.

“We need this to be addressed before the 2017 presidential elections. These demands are also our conditions for participation in the elections. If not addressed, it won’t be a level playing field,” Mr Habineza said.

“We hope the government will address them since it is always saying that it is committed to having a democracy,” he added.

The Green Party also requested that a law be enacted to prohibit all elected officials holding public offices from becoming chairpersons of political organisations at provincial, district, sector and other local levels of administration.

Under the current setting, senior government officials also serve as representatives of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front or the Liberal and Social Democratic Parties at different levels of local governance, a structure the Green Party says potentially leads to conflict of interests.

The party also wants the articles of the electoral law setting requirements of independent candidates revised in order for independent candidates to participate in the general election.

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