Six million to vote in next Parliamentary elections

About six million Rwandans are expected to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for September this year, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced yesterday.NEC Chairman Prof. Kalisa Mbanda announced this at a news briefing called to give updates on preparations for the elections.About 4.8 million voters took part in the 2008 elections. NEC commissioners reiterated that preparations for the elections are on course, with nearly all the resources needed to conduct the elections available, while the electoral calendar has also been set.The elections will cost Rwf5 billion, Rwf4 billion less than what was spent in the 2008 polls, a situation that they attributed to improved experience in conducting elections by NEC staff, proper storage of equipment used in previous elections, and the increase in the number of election volunteers.The previous elections cost Rwf 9 billion. This time around, th Government of Rwanda allocated Rwf 4.3 billion to the elections.The rest of the funds will come from NEC’s income generating projects such as its printing plant (Rwf500 million) while other partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will donate Rwf 200 million to support the elections. “We have all the money we need for election activities,” said Charles Munyaneza, NEC’s Executive Secretary.The NEC Chairman said the final list of voters will be ready 15 days before the elections which will kick off on September 16 with lections for MPs occupying 53 seats that are reserved for members of political parties and independent candidates.September 17 will be the day to vote 24 MPs representing women, while September 18 will be reserved for election of two MPs representing the youth and persons living with disabilities.Tentative results from the elections will be announced on September 20, while the final results will be proclaimed on September 25.NEC has trained some 75,000 volunteers to lead the electoral process across the country, a number that is higher than the 65,000 volunteers who were used in the previous parliamentary elections.The commission is currently conducting sensitisation across the country and in the Diaspora to explain the electoral process for both voters and candidates in order to maximise turn up in the elections.“People should go cast their votes when they totally understand the essence of going to vote,” Prof. Mbanda said. A coalition led by the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) won the last parliamentary elections held on September 15, 2008.It was made up of RPF-Inkotanyi, Centrist Democratic Party (PDC), Parti du Progrès et la Concorde (PPC), Union Démocratique du Peuple Rwandais (UDPR), Parti de la Solidarité et du Progrès (PSP), Parti Socialiste Rwandais (PSR) and the Ideal Democratic Party (PDI).The runner up was the Social Democratic Party (PSD), while the second runner up was the Liberal Party (PL).None of the politicians in the previous coalition have so far ruled out the possibility of their parties joining hands with the RPF again, while leaders of the remaining three political parties outside the coalition—PS-Imberakuri, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the Liberal Party (PL)—have revealed plans to again run on their own in the upcoming elections.