Different observer missions and the Rwanda Civil Society Platform have applauded Rwandans and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) for conducting peaceful elections.

Speaking to Saturday Times at Kimironko Primary School where Democratic Green Party of Rwanda’s Frank Habineza cast his vote, the head of the COMESA observer group, Bishop Mary Nkosi, said the mission that she brought to Rwanda had been moved by the preparedness of NEC and the civility of Rwandans.

"Rwanda is peaceful and the people are friendly. So far, we have appreciated how organised NEC was in putting together the presidential election. When I talk of orderliness, I mean peace,” she said.

Bishop Nkosi said the peace and security that characterised yesterday’s election and preceeding campaigns were a clear indication of where Rwanda is headed as a country.

"There is something great about not feeling insecure. There are no threats and no one is being harassed or being blocked. Everything is going smoothly. Democracy in Rwanda is working,” she said.

She said that, as part of their duties, they had held several meetings with candidates and other stakeholders, including the Ministry of Local Government and Socilal Affairs and the Police and had been reassured of how smooth the process would.

"We are here to observe Frank Habineza vote and we have generally had a fair balance when it comes to meeting everyone involved in this election because earlier today, we also managed to visit the site where the incumbent president voted from,” she said.

COMESA, the African Union and the East African Community (EAC) observer missions are expected to release a joint preliminary report about the elections on Monday before releasing a comprehensive report after 60 days.

The benchmark

Addressing journalists, the head of the EAC Observer Mission and former Vice President of Kenya, Moody Awori, said Africa had a lot to learn from Rwanda.

"We can learn something big from the practices here that can be of value to other partner states. Learning is a continuous process and we think that Rwanda can teach a lot to the rest of the world,” he said.

Awori said that he had not registered any major incidents adding that he had been moved by the general atmosphere.

"I am amazed because, in other African countries, you would be hearing noise. I have not seen or heard it and to me that’s something big. I am happy about how civil Rwandans have been through this period,” he said.

Tomorrow, a joint news conference is scheduled for presentation of preliminary reports by the heads of election observer missions from East African Community, COMESA, and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region.

The Chairperson of Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP), Jean Leonard Sekanyange, said, overall, the election had been incident-free.

"We were impressed by the work done by electoral officials and volunteers. The confidence that they exhibited indicate that they were trained extensively because they made voting a comfortable experience for most people. So far, everything went well and it has largely been incident free. We expect to release the preliminary report tomorrow and, in three months, we will follow it up with a more comprehensive one,” he said.

In total, RCSP deployed 360 election observers. Of these, nine were stationed at the national level, five at the provincial level, 30 at the district level while 316 were short term observers stationed at different sites.

About 6.8 million Rwandans went to polls yesterday. Another 44,362 voted from the Diaspora on Thursday.

There were 2340 polling stations and 16,000 polling rooms. Some 2,000 observers from the region and other blocs were in the country for the election. The poll cost Rwf6.2 billion.

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