Election volunteers take oath
All roads are leading to polling sites as Rwanda decides the head of state who will drive the country to ambitious targets of middle-income economy by 2030.
Nine million Rwandans corresponding to 64 per cent of the entire population will today have nine hours between 7Am and 3PM to show whom they trust would usher them to the targets in the next five years.
Three men, including two flag bearers of political parties are vying for president.
They include the incumbent Paul Kagame representing the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi and who has been re-elected for three consecutive terms, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda who lost elections in 2017 and independent Philippe Mpayimana who also lost to Kagame in 2017.
Rwandans, a resilient community who never sleeps when they have a big project in pipeline woke up early morning and headed to the polling sites in their respective villages as they wait the election volunteers to take the oath and kick start on time.
According to the National electoral commission (NEC), there are 2591 polling sites, including 158 in diaspora. The diaspora casted their votes yesterday, July 14 and counted votes which they sent to the election’s body electronically.
NEC expects to announce preliminary results by 10PM today. According to Nicole Mutimucyeye, the vice president of NEC, “votes will be counted at the level of polling station, then brought together at polling site before being sent to district level electronically. Every district will also send the results electronically to NEC at national level.”
Ballot box with white cover -for presidential ballot papers, those with black covers, for parliamentarians
Meanwhile, the presidential elections 2024 were combined with parliamentary elections to save time and money.
There are in the room, volunteers who guide voters, giving them first the white ballot paper to elect the president. After putting the paper in the ballot box, they are also given the khaki ballot paper to elect the members of parliament.
In this direct suffrage, members of parliament to be elected hail from political parties. Voters will basically choose a political party, or an independent candidate. On July 16, elections of members of parliament, special categories will proceed.
The special categories include 24 women who represent 30 per cent at parliament, 2 youth representatives, and one representative of people with disabilities.RPF Inkotanyi dominated the parliament by far since the last thirty years
Photos by Syldio Sebuharara and Servelien Mutuyimana
