A coalition of parties led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Inkotanyi will claim a bigger percentage of seats in the next Parliament after scoring the highest number of votes in the recently concluded Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Partial results released by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) show that of the 8,761,453 out of 9,071,157, equivalent of 96.60 percent counted so far, the RPF Coalition claimed a total of 5,471,104 votes, or 62.67 percent of the votes, followed by the Liberal Party (PL), which garnered 957,602 or 10.97 percent of the votes.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) got 827,182 or 9.48 percent while the Idea Democratic Party (PDI) got 507,474, equivalent to 5.81 percent, followed by the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) which got 462,290 votes or 5.30 percent of the counted ballots.
Christine Mukabunani’s Parti Sociale Imberakuri got 459,526 votes which are equivalent to 5.26 percent of the votes counted so far, while independent candidate Janvier Nsengiyumva, got 44,881 votes or 0.51 percent. Independent candidates are required to get at least 5 percent of the vote to get a seat in Parliament.
NEC said the elections held on 14 July 2024 for Rwandans living abroad and on 15 July 2024 for Rwandans at home went smoothly without any particular incident to report.
“Overall, the electoral process went smoothly, both for Rwandans abroad and at home. As of now, the votes counted in the general elections for members of parliament amount to 8,761,453 out of 9,071,157, equivalent to 96.60 percent,” the Commission announced on Wednesday morning.
The tallying in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections is ongoing. The National Electoral Commission will continue to announce the election results as in the coming days -not later than 20 July for the provisional results of the Presidential and
Parliamentary Elections and not later than 27 July to announce the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections results.
In the Presidential race, partial results show that incumbent President Paul Kagame is leading the polls with 99.15 percent, equivalent to 7,099,810 votes counted, which are equivalent to 78.94 percent of the total votes counted while Frank Habineza, of DGPR earned 0.53 per cent equivalent to 38,301 votes while Independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana managed to get 0.32 per cent or 22,753 votes.
According to the chairperson of National Electoral Commission (NEC) Oda Gasinzigwa, the turnout in the diaspora was 52.73 percent.