All Mayors, including that of the City of Kigali, will vacate offices on January 29 to pave the way for local government elections, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has said.

Officials at the commission announced this yesterday during a news conference in Kigali in which they also updated the public about ongoing preparations for the elections.

The polls, through which Rwandans will vote their representatives right from the village level up to the district and special groups like women, youth, with people with disabilities voting their representatives up to the country level, are scheduled for February and March.

"The mayoral mandates were supposed to end in March because they were elected in March 2011 but they have to vacate their offices on January 29 to facilitate the electoral process,” said Charles Munyaneza, the executive secretary of NEC.

NEC officials say mayors have to step down depending on the electoral calendar because some of them are eligible to compete in the elections and it wouldn’t be fair for other candidates if they campaigned while also holding their offices.

"Stepping down of mayors helps in the campaign process in line with avoiding using their office to influence the election outcome. It’s also in line with giving equal opportunity to all candidates,” said Judith Kazaire, a commissioner with NEC.

The calendar of NEC for 2016 local government polls shows that new district mayors will be elected countrywide on February 27.

A district mayor is elected by a district council made up of representatives of all the sectors in the district, representatives of the youth and women in the district, a representative of the private sector in the district, as well as those representing people living with disabilities in the district.

Apart from district mayors, local government elections will also help Rwandans vote for their other grassroots leaders, including cell executive committees and cell councils, councilors of sectors and districts, as well as representatives of women, youth, and people with disabilities.

‘Preparations going well’

NEC officials said preparations for the elections were going smoothly, with resources of about Rwf3.5 billion already disbursed by the government for the elections, while tens of thousands of election volunteers have also been trained to facilitate the polls.

NEC Chairperson Kalisa Mbanda said that the commission expects Rwandans to fully participate in the forthcoming elections and to do it in a calm and peaceful environment.

"We are used to peaceful and calm elections in Rwanda; we normally call our elections a festive moment,” Prof. Mbanda said.

The local government elections will kick off on February 8 when every citizen above 18 years of age will be expected to vote cell executive committees and councils by lining up behind their preferred candidates.

Another adult suffrage election will be held on February 22 when all citizens above 18 years will be expected to vote for the district council from councillors who will come from sectors through a secret ballot.

Then, on February 27, district executive committees will be elected, an exercise that will produce new district mayors and vice mayors who will be elected from the district councils.

In early March, there will be elections for the City of Kigali mayor and executive committee as well as representatives of special groups at the national level such as leaders of the National Women Council, the National Youth Council, and the National Council of Persons with Disabilities.

NEC officials said they will have published a report of the 2016 local government elections by the end of March but results from the polls will be officially published before the final report on March 8.

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The election timeline                  

OFFICE                                                  DATE                                                       VOTER

Cell Executive Committees                      February 8                                             Adult suffrage

Cell Councillors                                       February 8                                             Adult suffrage

District Councillors                                  February 22                                           Adult suffrage

District Executive Committees                 February 27                                           Electoral college

District Mayors                                        February 27                                           Electoral college

City of Kigali Mayor                                 March 2                                                  Electoral college

City of Kigali Exec. Committee                 March 2                                                  Electoral college

Rep. of Women’s Council                        March 2                                                  Electoral college

Rep. of Youth Council                              March 2                                                 Electoral college

Rep. of Persons with Disabilities               March 2                                                Electoral college

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