What you should know about Monday's grassroots elections

The local government elections scheduled for this month and March will kick off on Monday when every citizen above 18 years of age will be expected to vote village and cell executive committees and councils by lining up behind their preferred candidates. Unlike other usual electoral procedures, candidates who wish to stand for village and cell executive committees shall be known at the polling date and campaigns for each candidate will not last for more than five minutes, according Moses Bukasa, the director of communications at National Electoral Commission (NEC). Although Bukasa would not rule out what he calls “behind-the-scene campaigns” for those seeking to be elected into cell executive committees, he noted that, “all official campaigns will be at the polling stations. “Polling assistants will determine how long the campaigns will take, preferably about five minutes and, thereafter, voters will line up behind their preferred candidates,” said Bukasa. The village executive committee is made up of five members, including the chairperson, the in charge of security, social affairs, information, and the officer in charge of development. On the same date, voters will elect councilors who will represent them in the cell council, plus representatives of special groups at the cell level. “There are five different elections slated to take place on Monday,” Bukasa said, adding that the polling stations are to be determined by NEC in collaboration with local leaders. “The usually known polling stations are not necessarily going to be used for the grassroots levels, because people will require much bigger areas and preferably nearer to them. The local electoral committee will determine that,” he said. Rwanda has 2248 cells and 140,838 villages. The Ministry of Labour and Public Service asked private employers to allow their staff to participate in the electoral exercise by offering break off from work. “Security organs and other public institutions are aware of the elections, and they are willing to collaborate in making the exercise rather smooth,” Bukasa said. The grassroots polls will see Rwandans vote for their local leaders such as cell executive committees, including members of cell councils, councilors of sectors and districts, district mayors, as well as representatives of women, youth, and people with disabilities. NEC officials say preparations for the elections are going on smoothly, with about Rwf3.5 billion already disbursed by the government for the elections, while about 70,000 election volunteers have been trained to facilitate the polls. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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What you should know about Monday's grassroots elections