KIGALI - The Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Prof. Chrysologue Karangwa, has resigned from his party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) to concentrate on organising upcoming elections.

Karangwa, who has been a member of the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), Executive Committee for the last seven years, tendered in his resignation last week.

In an interview with The New Times yesterday, Karangwa said that he decided to quit his job in the RPF so as to have more time to prepare for the presidential polls slated for August this year.

Other elections in the pipeline include those for mediators that will take place towards the end of the year and for the Senate which will be held next year. The Electoral Commission is also preparing for grass root elections slated for March.

Despite previous criticism raised by some people that the Chairman of NEC was also a senior member of the ruling party, Karangwa said that no pressure was exerted on him to resign saying that he did so out of his own will.

"I performed my jobs perfectly and nobody influenced me; I decided to resign from the party because of the increased work within NEC and I want perfection in the upcoming elections,” said Karangwa.

He revealed that work to prepare for the upcoming presidential elections are on course and that NEC has started civic education programmes across the country to prepare the voters.

On the progress of the electoral code, Karangwa said NEC has finalized the draft code which is now in parliament.

According to experts who participated in drafting the code, it is all-inclusive; it binds all laws governing elections in the country and it’s much easier to understand.

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