Twelve aspiring independent candidates, including one female, have so far picked nomination forms from the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and started traversing all over the country to collect signatures required for them to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

According to Charles Munyaneza, NECExecutive Secretary, the majority of the aspiring candidates are youth.

The elections are slated in the first week of September.

"So far we have got twelve aspirants who have already picked nomination forms and among them is one female. The process is still on until July25 and we encourage more females to pick forms,” Munyaneza said.

Potential candidates need 600 signatures from all the 30 districts.The signatures are used as proof that a candidate has been endorsed by a minimum of 12 people per district.

A political organization of individual needs at least 5% of the votes cast to win a seat.

According to NEC, the aspiring candidate is permitted to nominate people to help them in the collection of the signatures but they must be registered voters and NEC must be informed about these agents.

One can either sign or use fingerprint during the collection of signatures.

Potential candidates are prohibited from collecting signatures from public places like schools, markets, hospitals to avoid business disruptions, according to the commission’s regulations, according to NEC.

The nomination of both independent candidates and political parties will start on July 25, according to Munyaneza.

Jeanne d’ArcKanakuze, the chairperson of Pro-Femmes TweseHamwe, said the organisation has embarked on various projects to encourage more women to contest for leadership positions including elective ones.

"We have programmes to encourage women to participate as candidates and we encourage them to do so. We also have projects that aim at encouraging them to get involved in the election process from preparation to polling day,” she said.

The lower chamber has 80 seats and all are up for grabs. 53 are drawn from political organisations, 24 representing women (elected through the National Women Council structures), two youth representatives, and one representative of people living with disabilities.

The elections process is expected to cost between Rfw5 – 6 billion, according to NEC.

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