Advertisement

537 candidates scramble for 80 seats in Rwanda parliament

Saturday July 28 2018
voter

A Rwandan casts his vote in a previous election at Rugunga polling station in Kigali. Rwanda will hold parliamentary elections on September 3, 2018. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By EDMUND KAGIRE

A total of 537 people have applied to contest in Rwanda’s September parliamentary elections, with 61 per cent of them being women.

Five independent candidates also submitted their applications to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Thursday.

The NEC said that 313 of them were submitted by political parties.

The ruling party Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) submitted 70 of its own members while 10 are from six smaller parties allied to it.

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) submitted 34 aspirants, while the Social Democratic Party (PSD) submitted 65 names. Parti Sociale Imberakuri, which seeks to have its first seat in parliament, submitted 54 names.

According to the electoral commission chair Prof Kalisa Mbanda, parties submitted 136 female candidates while 179 submitted their bids to contest for the 24 seats available in parliament for women.

Advertisement

“We received 30 candidates competing for two seats for the youth and 10 people who want to contest one seat for Persons with Disabilities,” Prof Mbanda said, in what it likely to be the most contested parliamentary polls in terms of candidates.

He added: “The 326 women represent 61 per cent of the total candidates received. This is a positive step. We are seeing a growing trend of women standing up to claim their place.”

For RPF, 58 per cent of the names it submitted are women while 41 per cent of the PL candidates are women. 47 per cent of Green Party candidates are female while PS Imberakuri has 37 per cent female candidates. PSD submitted the lowest number of women on its list, representing 31 per cent.

However, all the five independent candidates are men. While NEC did not reveal the names, it is believed that former presidential candidate Philippe Mpayimana is among them.

Parliament is made up of 80 members: 53 are elected for five-years term and 24 are elected by provincial councils; two are appointed by the National Youth Council, and one by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled.

The elections are slated for September 3.

Advertisement