The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, the Ideal Democratic Party and PS-Imberakuri, which had initially secured at least five per cent of the votes in the parliamentary elections – the Constitutional requirement to get seats in the Chamber of Deputies – saw their shares decline to less than the threshold, according to the provisional results announced on Thursday, July 18.
The results announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) left some people wondering if that meant that the three parties had been voted out of Parliament.
But, according to NEC Executive Secretary Charles Munyaneza, Green Party, PDI and PS-Imberakuri could still get seats in Parliament, given that each of the party’s share of votes might be rounded off.
"Although some of the parties got 4.5 per cent or 4.6 per cent, that does not mean that they fell short of the required five per cent,” Munyaneza said.
"When we have percentages like these, we round them to the nearest whole number, which is five in this case.”
Therefore, he said, the three parties could still get a share in the 53 contestable seats in Parliament.
Provisional results
According to the provisional results, the RPF-Inkotanyi coalition got 68.83 per cent of the 8,901,453 valid votes cast in the parliamentary elections held on July 14-15.
The Liberal Party (PL) got 8.66 per cent, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) secured 8.62 per cent.
PDI got 4.61 per cent; Green Party, 4.56 per cent; and PS-Imberakuri, 4.51 per cent.
Independent candidate Janvier Nsengimana got 0.21 per cent of the votes. He fell short of the required 5 per cent.
How many seats could each party get?
There are 80 seats in the Rwandan Parliament. 27 seats are reserved for quotas for special groups (24 women, 2 for youth and 1 for people with disabilities). Members of Parliament are elected for a five-year term.
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The remaining 53 representatives are elected through direct suffrage, with candidates from political parties and independents vying for the seats.
Since the only independent parliamentary candidate in the 2024 election could not get the minimum requirement to get a seat, the 53 seats will be shared by the parties.
With over 68 per cent, the RPF coalition, which includes PPC, PSR, PDC, PSP and UDPR, could get 37 seats.
PL and PSD could get five seats each.
If the percentages of Green Party, PDI and PS-Imberakuri are rounded to 5, then they will get two seats each.
In the last Legislature, Green Party and PS-Imberakuri had two seats each. PDI, which was part of the RPF coalition, had one seat.
NEC is expected to release the final results of the parliamentary elections by July 27.