Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda: Kigali to spend $10.9m on 2010 presidential elections

By KEZIO-MUSOKE DAVID
The East African
August 31, 2009

About 57.7 per cent of the Rwandan population is expected to cast a vote in the country’s September 2010 presidential election, according to the Kigali-based National Electoral Commission.

A report prepared by Charles Munyaneza, the NEC executive secretary shows that the commission is currently updating the now electronic voters’ register “in almost all villages,” and which this time round shall bear individual voters’ pictures.”

The report also says that the 2010 election will cost the government at least $10.9 million, thrice the amount spent in the 2003 presidential election.

The figure of 57.7 per cent cited by the NEC report represents an increase of two million voters compared with the election held in 2003. Officials have explained that the increase is mainly due to an increasing number of youths attaining the voting age.

“There were 3.9 million voters in 2003 and the registered voters for the 2008 parliamentary elections were 4.7 million while the turn up was 98 per cent. We expect to have about 5.2 million voters for the 2010 elections,” said Mr Munyaneza.

The number of polling stations according to Mr Munyaneza is also expected to increase to 16,000 from the 15,378 used in the 2008 parliamentary elections.

One seeming controversial development is that Rwanda is expecting to print most of the election-related material such as ballot papers and voter cards in Kigali, something that is bound to raise concern among human rights groups and electoral observers including the European Union.

Electoral officials say that the electoral body has installed a modern printer at the NEC offices to cater for printing requirements including ballot papers, voter cards, civic and voter education materials and other election-related paperwork previously printed by private printers in and outside the country.

The EU Election Observation Mission has in the past been the most critical of Rwanda’s elections, saying the legislation in the 2008 parliamentary elections had shortcomings in relation to key international standards, leading to insufficient safeguards for transparent elections.

The country has been criticised for holding elections allegedly without a “meaningful opposition.”

During the 2008 parliamentary elections, the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front in a coalition with six small parties was only challenged by one independent candidate; the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party is aligned to Youth Minister Protais Mitali and the Social Democratic Party is headed by the Senate President Dr Vincent Biruta.

In the 2003 presidential elections — the first elections held since the 1994 genocide — President Kagame was challenged by Faustin Twagiramungu and Jean-Nepomuscene Nayinzira who managed to garner at least 3.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively of the electoral vote.

The other party PS-Imberakuri Party which was founded by lawyer Bernard Ntaganda was also recently approved by Cabinet. Just barely a week after it was permitted to operate, it announced it will be fielding a candidate in next year’s presidential election.

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, the chairperson of the radical Brussels-based opposition movement United Democratic Forces has also expressed her intention to stand for the elections.

Umuhoza could actually be barred by the new draft electoral law which states that all individuals intending to contest for the presidency will have to be residents in the country at the time and possess a national ID.

They will also be required to posses a “clean” legal background and strictly have one nationality (Rwandan) or relinquish their other nationalities.

The draft which is currently undergoing a “cleaning process” and yet to be approved by the two chambers of parliament also states that those intending to stand must also hold a birth certificate issued at least three months before the election by a competent government authority.

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posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 5:54 PM