The National Electoral Commission (NEC)  closed receiving candidatures for the upcoming parliamentary elections yesterday. The two-week exercise started on July 12 where hopefuls were required to have collected at least 600 signatures from across the country, at least 20 from every district.

Speaking to The New Times in a telephone interview, the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Charles Munyaneza, mentioned that the deadline came when five political parties had already submitted their candidates’ forms (a maximum of 80 candidates each). Special categories including youth, women and people with disabilities are represented as well.

For independent candidates, 16 candidates, including one woman, picked nomination forms. By the time we went to press,  only two applicants had managed to complete collecting signatures.  

"For now, we can say that the process went well. Compared to the previous election, it is the first time five political parties joined in (FPR, PL, Green Party, PSD, and PS Imberakuri.  In the past, only three participated. It means that the number of candidates will increase as well,’’ said Munyaneza.

There are 11 registered political parties, and those who don’t appear among the five motioned above, are those that joined hands with RPF to present joint candidates as was the case in previous elections.

Munyaneza added that the dealine, it will be followed by the process of application analysis. The preliminary list of candidates will be announced on July 30 while the final list will be released on August 6.

According to NEC, 7.2 million people are expected to take part in the elections, an increment of 250,000 from those who participated in presidential elections.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw