The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda has announced a list of 55 candidates who will vie in the forthcoming parliamentary elections slated for September 3.

The list was unveiled during a general assembly by the party which was held on Saturday.

Speaking during the assembly on Saturday, Jean-Claude Ntezimana, the Secretary General of the party urged the candidates to have submitted all required documents to the party’s office by the first week of July for examining their candidacy before the president of the party submits them to the electoral commission on  July 12.

"All candidates must have submitted the required document such as criminal records by the set deadline to the party offices so that the party president can submit them to the electoral commission because no individual is allowed to submit them on their own,” he said.

The selected candidates are representatives of all districts in the country.

"Although we have the candidates’ list, we still have to assess if they fulfill all criteria because among the requirements, it includes not to have been imprisoned for or more than six months.

There other requirements which require examining early so that we help them to fill in any gaps the documents might have,” he said.

Frank Habineza, the party president said that under the party’s reviewed policy programme, they will prioritise green environment once elected as part of parliament.

He added that they will agitate for the revision of laws to ensure land consolidation is fair and fight illegal mining activities that pollute the country’s water bodies.

"We have examples of how polluting rivers even affects electricity production such as Nyabarongo hydropower plant that stops or produces less electricity because the river was polluted by the erosion and mining activities in different areas connected to it. We need strong green environment laws,” he said.

Other activities planned in the programme include pushing laws on reducing taxes where progressive taxation policy that depends on capacity of tax payers is needed, recovering embezzled funds by government officials, reduction of prices paid to advocates during court cases and involving civil society in the formulation of laws among many others.

Habineza who is also among the candidates on the list added that laws are also needed to make sure that government advertises more with the private media to boost their financial standing.

Habineza contested in last year’s presidential elections, during which he polled 0.47 per cent, making him the last among the three candidates who contested.

 "We have hope for winning parliamentary polls because we are competing where there are so many positions which is different from contesting for one position of becoming president of the republic as last year which was not easy,” he said.

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