After swearing in, Oda Gasinzigwa, the new chairperson of the National Electoral Commission, on Wednesday, February 15, announced a proposal meant to adjust the electoral calendar by harmonising the timelines for the country’s Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

The former member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), the legislative arm of the East African Community, told reporters at the Supreme Court in Kigali that her proposal was inspired by best practices observed in the seven-member bloc where countries save time and money by holding all major elections in one period.

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Gasinzigwa said: "The issue of resources, and the budget, are a big challenge to most of our partner states, including Rwanda. I have been following, and participating in elections. And as a new chairperson of the National Electoral Commission, after being confirmed by the Senate I thought it important to consult stakeholders especially my colleagues and see how best we can manage the upcoming elections.”

Besides the financial resources required in key matters such as national civic education so as to hold successful elections, Gasinzigwa highlighted the fact that voters spend so much time immersed in campaigns and the entire electoral process. It is a challenge both to the electorates and the entity managing the elections when such major national elections are held in different successive periods, she pointed out.

As earlier set, the country was set to hold parliamentary elections in October. This would be followed, a year later, by the presidential elections also earlier scheduled for August 2024.

If her proposal is to be effected, a review of existing legal instruments will be considered.

The Constitution is clear

Alphonse Muleefu, a senior lecturer at the School of Law and acting Principal at the University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences, said the Constitution is clear.

Article 175 is on amendment and revision of the Constitution.

Muleefu noted that the power to initiate the amendment or revision of the constitution "is vested in the President of the Republic after approval of the Cabinet, or in each Chamber of the Parliament through a two thirds majority vote of members."

"In this case, I think the proposal can be limited to extending the mandate of the current members of the Parliament for an extra one year, and this should be based on clearly justified reasons,” Muleefu said.

"In my view, to keep the checks and balances, so that it does not look like there is a conflict of interest, where parliamentarians are initiating a law extending their mandate, it could be better if the amendment is initiated by the President. This would still need the three-quarters majority vote of both chambers of parliament for the amendment to be approved.”

As noted, Article 76 of the Constitution – term of office of lawmakers in the lower house – would need to have another paragraph of transition providing that the term of office of the current parliament will expire on the same date as that of the President.

"As I indicated, it needs to be done in a manner that is transparent and based on clearly justified reasons to avoid the assumption that the incumbent parliament is simply extending their term of office.”

Article 76 of the Constitution provides five years of office for the members of the Chamber of Deputies.

The National Electoral Commission Executive Secretary Charles Munyaneza welcomed the proposal. He shed more light on the positive impact to the national budget, especially considering that the government earlier decided that the country must be fully self-reliant in organising its polls.

Munyaneza said: "We no longer depend on donor funding to manage our elections. And when we look at our elections, be it the parliamentary elections or the presidential elections, you find that just one election consumes around Rwf7 billion. If we harmonised the time for holding these elections, we could use not more than Rwf8 billion if everything was done in one period.”

This implies that taxpayers would save nearly Rwf6 billion, an amount that can help - for example - set up about 20 health centres, or 750 classrooms, in the country.

Who is Gasinzigwa?

A cabinet meeting, on January 30, appointed Gasinzigwa, as the new chairperson of the National Electoral Commission.

The 57-year-old mother of four, replaced Kalisa Mbanda who had earlier passed on due to illness.

In October 2016, the former Gender and Family Promotion Minister – 2013 to 2016 – was elected to EALA by the Lower House.

In the regional Assembly, Gasinzigwa, among others, served as a member of the EALA Commission – the leading committee which manages the affairs of the Assembly, organises the business and programme of the House, and nominates members of other committees.

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A strong advocate for gender equality and women empowerment, Gasinzigwa has also previously served as Chief Gender Monitor, among her other leadership roles.

From November 2008 to February 2013, she was responsible for monitoring the implementation of gender principles. This involved, among others, monitoring and carrying out evaluation on a permanent basis of compliance with gender indicators intended to respect gender in the context of the vision of sustainable national development and serving as a reference point on matters relating to gender equality and equity.

From July 2004 to November 2008, she was President of Rwanda National Women Council. Here, her primary role was to advocate for gender equality and women promotion through mobilization, advocacy, sensitization and strengthening their capacities and participation in all aspects of national development.

From 2005 to 2008, she was a Commissioner in the Rwanda National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. As a member of the Commission, she was in charge of, among others, promoting unity and reconciliation; preparing and coordinating national programmes for promoting national unity and reconciliation; as well as monitoring and assessing the impact of the unity and reconciliation process. Between March 2008 and March 2009, Gasinzigwa served as Vice Chairperson of Rwanda National Consultative Committee (NCC) on fast-tracking of the East Africa Political Federation. From 1991 to 1994, she was employed by the National Bank of Commerce, in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, as personnel officer.

She has also served in various capacities in other national and regional organisations, including being second Vice Chairperson from 2013 to 2018 the Unity Club, a member of the national preparatory committee on International Conference for Peace, Security and Development in the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), and vice president of the women forum for great lakes region on peace, security and development.

Gasinzigwa holds a master of social sciences in gender and development degree obtained from the Kigali Institute of Education in 2012. Earlier, in 1991, she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in local government administration from the Institute of Development Management in Ruzube, Tanzania.