Higiro has high hopes of going through

KIGALI - The Liberty Party (PL) presidential candidate, Prosper Higiro, has expressed optimism in winning today’s elections. He was speaking shortly after casting his ballot at Rukiri 1 polling station, Kicukiro District at about 9:30a.m. Flanked by his family and his campaign manager, Francois Byabarumwanzi, Higiro was welcomed at the polling station by the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Charles Munyaneza. Higiro walked straight into the polling room where he went through a routine verification process by electoral staff, before proceeding to a private chamber to cast his ballot.He expressed his joy as he spoke to the press after emerging from the polling room. “This is my first experience to contest at this top position, and the first time for the party too. Right now I am confident of victory…but of course we have to wait for the final results.” He attributed his optimism to the public response throughout the past three weeks of campaigns.“We have good programmes and that’s why we got very good response from our supporters in all the 30 districts in the country.” Asked whether he was willing to concede defeat should he lose the poll, Higiro said “at the end of the electoral process, if we feel that it was fair, we will accept the results.” The PL candidate commended NEC for its “competence which enabled well organised campaigns that registered no cases of violence.” “The whole process was peaceful…people were free to participate and the voters registration was well carried out and NEC was flexible and friendly to citizens and we feel the outcome will be a reflection of people’s feelings,” he said. The presiding officer, Parfairt Rutabayiro, however, said that the polling station had, by 10a.m, turned away 23 people who whose names were not found on the voters’ list. Up to 43 percent of the 5678 expected voters at Rukira 1 had cast their ballots by 10a.m, he said. Ends