The Green Party has since the beginning of this year been calling for changes in the two laws to make it easy for smaller parties to compete favourably.
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (Green Party), Rwanda’s only opposition party, was dealt a blow last week when the government turned down its request for reforms in electoral and political party governing laws.
The Green Party has since the beginning of this year been calling for changes in the two laws to make it easy for smaller parties and independent candidates to compete favourably.
In February, a petition to Parliament was turned down and in April, the party wrote to the Prime Minister, appealing to him to ask Cabinet to make the necessary reforms.
“The Rwanda Governance Board [RGB], the body that registers political parties, declined demands for political and electoral reforms,” said a statement released by the party.
The Green Party wants the Constitution changed to allow small political parties and independent candidates share power with the dominant ruling party, abolish the five per cent threshold which parties or independent candidates have to garner in general elections in order to have seats in parliament.
It also wants the government to revise the laws on funding of political parties which will allow small parties to accept external donations, arguing that the restrictions in the law give advantage to the ruling RPF party which has a huge resource base.
According to Frank Habineza, the president of the Green Party, RGB indicated that all laws regulating the political aspects, which the Greens want revised, have been enacted following an extensive and inclusive process of consultations, with a wide range of stakeholders, including all political parties and civil society organisations.