Rwandans are in the middle of an electoral process which will result in the election of thousands of new leaders across all local administrative structures, right from the Isibo (subvillage) level through to the provincial level – and national level in the case of special interest groups. This is the fifth cycle of local government elections since 2001 when the country was first introduced to decentralisation and citizen participation in local governance. With each cycle has come significant improvements in terms of organisation and participation as citizens are increasingly empowered to not only freely vote for their preferred candidates but also go on to demand transparency from their leaders and hold them to account when they fall short. This time round the electoral process, which kicked off October 16 and is set to conclude on November 23, has seen stronger participation of women, including as candidates, resulting in more women being elected at least at the village level. This is commendable as it shows that women are increasingly becoming proactive in taking part in efforts to develop their communities and addressing grassroots challenges, which tend to affect more women than men. Equally noteworthy is the greater involvement of professionals (a good number of them are youthful and work in Kigali) in seeking election for advisory roles in districts where they hail from or have worked previously. The law allows for broad participation and representation of different segments of society in the electoral process at the grassroots, guaranteeing representation of civil society, private sector as well as special interest groups, notably women, youth and people living with disabilities in leadership structures. However, never before have we seen as much participation of middle-class professionals in local elections, especially at the district level, as we have witnessed this time round. This is a positive development as these relatively young men and women will draw from their knowledge, expertise and experience to contribute to the development of the districts where they will be elected. This should come as a major boost for local governments as they move to deliver on both the National Strategy for Transformation and Vision 2050 in the next five years.
