Officials impressed with NUR students’ elections

SOUTHERN PROVINCE HUYE — Electoral commission officials praised students at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) for successfully voting their representatives in the National Youth Council. Recent reports had indicated that they always had problems in voting their leaders. As part of the country wide elections to vote representatives to the National Youth Council, NUR students on Monday voted their eight representatives. High ranking officials from the National electoral commission (NEC) were at the university campus, monitoring the elections to avoid any troubles in the process. “I feel I am impressed,” said the acting Executive Secretary of NEC, Charles Munyaneza, after the students’ elections. “I had an impression that university students would be complicated in these elections.” Munyaneza came all the way from Kigali to monitor the elections at NUR campus. Munyaneza was also skeptical of the student’s voter turn out as many are supposed to be in holiday. However about 250 students turned up for the polls. He was also impressed that students conducted fair elections despite the fact that their guild representatives were recently marred with conflicts and alleged genocide ideology. “I have seen committed students with discipline,” he said. “That gives me hope that they will participate in other forthcoming elections because they have started to understand their role.” The elections coordinator in the Southern Province, Jean de Dieu Rutatika, also lauded the students for holding fair elections. “We didn’t see any difficulties,” he said. He added that during preparations of students’ elections, electoral officials were afraid that the polls would face problems at NUR. A new law governing the National Youth Council stipulates that students in each secondary school and institutions of higher learning in Rwanda have to be represented in the National Youth Council on all levels. The process continues up to the country level where students’ representatives will become members of the assembly representing youth on national level. The Monday elections at NUR were conducted by students themselves. They led others into the whole process of polls. The later registered the outcome in their files after the elections. Ends