The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has released a provisional list of close to 500 candidates who will contest for 80 parliamentary seats in the September polls.

NEC said on Monday during a press briefing that out of the 537 candidates who vied for the seats in the parliament, close to 500 have been approved.

Prof. Kalisa Mbanda, the NEC Chairman said he expected those who missed out to complete the requirements before August 6, after which the final list will be released.

Of those approved, Kalisa Mbanda said only two are independent candidates.

Based on NEC’s provisional list, PS Imberakuri emerged the biggest loser after 23 of its candidates were dropped from the list. Only 31 candidates out of 54 who were fronted by the party made it to the provisional list.

Out of the 80 candidates that were fronted by Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)-Inkotanyi, 78 got NEC’s approval. The Liberal Party (PL) has 79 candidates on the provisional list out of the 80 who were fronted.

Social Democratic Party’s (PSD) list has 64 who were approved out of 65, while 30 candidates made it from the Democratic Green Party for Rwanda (DGPR) out of the 34 candidates it submitted.

There are 27 youth competing from two seats out of 32 candidates who wished to vie for seats while all 10 candidates who submitted their candidatures to represent persons with disabilities were approved, according to NEC.

There are also 177 women vying for 24 seats reserved for women out of 179 women that had submitted.

"We expect that even the remaining candidates will be able to submit the missing documents and that the final list will be released by August 6 as planned,” Kalisa said, adding that, "61 per cent of the approved candidates are women.”

There are two independent candidates who were approved from five who managed to submit their candidacies.

They include; former presidential aspirant Philippe Mpayimana and Elissam Salim Ntibanyendera. Three others failed to submit some documents but Mbanda said they still have five days to complete their applications.

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Political parties as well as Private candidates should at least get 5 percent of votes to secure a single seat in parliament

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

The Lower Chamber has 80 seats and all are up for grabs. 53 are drawn from political organisations.

Twenty four representing women (elected through the National Women Council structures) two youth representatives and one representative of people living with disabilities.

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