In a statement, on Friday (March 24), the Rwandan prime minister’s office said that the cabinet has decided to synchronise the dates for its parliamentary and presidential elections. This comes after a meeting was chaired by the country’s President Paul Kagame where the ministers approved his proposal to amend the constitution, reported AFP. The move will effectively delay the parliamentary ballot which was supposed to take place later this year.
The incumbent president who took office in April 2000 as a former rebel chief had been regarded as a de facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide, however, he won elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017 with more than 90 per cent of the votes.
The idea for this was first pitched by the new head of the National Electoral Commission, Oda Gasinzigwa, in February. Notably, he is also a senior member of Kagame’s ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Additionally, after his most recent victory, the incumbent president made constitutional amendments that allowed him to serve a third term and could see him rule until 2034.
The parliamentary ballot which was scheduled for September 2023 has now been moved to August next year, the date originally set for the presidential election. The move, however, required parliamentary approval and was approved after the meeting on Friday, which has allowed “the harmonisation of parliamentary and presidential election calendars”, said the PM’s office, as per AFP.
The NEC secretary general Charles Munyaneza also told local media that the change in date will help save money as both elections, “be it the parliamentary elections or the presidential” require at least $6 million. He added, “Yet about eight billion francs ($7 million) would be enough if they were held simultaneously,” reported AFP.
The opposition, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda’s leader Frank Habineza told AFP, “It will be cost effective both for the state and for political parties,” while welcoming the move. He added that the state will also be able to “save taxpayers’ money which could be used to construct more roads, more schools or hospitals.”
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