Police and local leaders did all they could to ensure campaigns for the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) parliamentary candidates were incident free, party officials have said

Frank Habineza, the party president and number one on the list of candidates, hailed Police and local leaders yesterday in Gasabo district, Kimironko sector as the party candidates concluded their campaigns.

Saturday was the last day of the three-week ampaign for all Political Parties and Independents who are contesting for Parliamentary seats in elections slated for September 2-4 according to The National Electoral Commission (NEC).   

"The campaigns were incident-free on the side of our party, we are happy that none of us had a problem. We thank God for protection throughout the campaigns. The Police have been with us whenever we rallied voters and ensured our security, local leaders warmly welcomed us and some stayed with us in the campaign,” he said

He said that the party was also grateful to the general public especially those who attended their campaign and showed generosity with some pledging to vote in favour of the party.

"We are grateful for all we achieved, voters and Rwandans in general have participated in our campaigns, liked our manifesto and showed us love. We promise that the love they showed will be reciprocal once they vote for us and allow us to become their representatives,” he added

Media’s role saluted

Habineza saluted media in general and particularly Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) for reporting on the campaigns impartially and professionally.  

"We are also thankful to the media, Rwanda Broadcasting Agency being a government media outlet gave us full coverage and reported on our campaign professionally, online media outlets and print media also did an outstanding job to spread our manifesto and campaign in general objectively,” he added

Green Party is an opposition political party registered in 2010 and contested in last year’s presidential elections despite having lost elections.

However, this time around, Habineza who was the candidate in the presidential elections remains optimistic that the party would secure seats in the August house come next week.

"We remain confident given the successful campaigns we had and our hope is to secure at least 10 seats,  we urge voters  to vote for us because we have good plans to all Rwandans including those in Diaspora,” he said

Five political parties and four independent candidates are contesting for 53 seats voted for in adult universal suffrage.

The lower house has 80 members of Parliament. Others are 24 who represent women, two represent youth and one represents persons with disabilities.