RPF mulls coalition with other parties in run-up to elections

GASABO - The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) is most likely to accept forming a coalition with six other political parties ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary polls. This was revealed Tuesday by members of the committee charged with organizing the election within the political organization. “It is a principle on which RPF-Inkotanyi is built that we work together with other political parties that wish to, but the ultimate decision of whether we are going to campaign with these parties will be taken by the Political Bureau,” said Christophe Bazivamo, the vice Chairman of the RPF who also chairs the committee. This will not be the first time that the political organization has formed a coalition with other parties as this was also the case during the 2003 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Bazivamo said that six political parties which include the Centrist Democratic Party (P.D.C), Parti du Progrès et la Concorde (P.P.C), Union Democtratique du Peuple Rwandais (UDPR), Parti de la Solidarité et du Progrés (PSP), Parti Socialiste Rwandais (P S R) and Islamic Democratic Party (PDI) are expected to form the coalition with the RPF during the campaigns. The committee which had met to review the party primaries that were concluded last week, told members of the press that the exercise was successful and democratic. During the primaries held on August 10, 4 candidates were elected from each of the 30 districts countrywide implying that 120 candidates emerged from the exercise. The maximum number of candidates a political organization can submit to the National Electoral Commission is 80. “We are going to further scrutinize these candidates from the primaries to come up with the required number…several criteria will be used including the candidate’s ability to get votes from the electorate,” said Bazivamo. He said that the turn up for the delegates who selected the candidates was impressive saying that they represented over 80 percent. “The number of delegates has been growing for the past years …it now stands at 15,743 and over 13,000 turned up for the primaries,” he said, adding that the increasing number has helped the organisation’s popularity at the grassroots level. Meanwhile, the list of RPF candidates is likely to change further when the Political Bureau, which is expected to sit soon, decides to form the coalition with these other parties. This will imply that the list of the total candidates fielded will include those from these parties. Deadline Like other political parties and candidates willing to stand on the individual ticket, RPF faces a deadline of August 21 to have submitted their list of candidates to the National Electoral Commission (NEC). According to the electoral calendar, the final number of candidates from all political organizations will be announced by NEC on August 24 and the following day, intensive campaigns will begin and end two days to the polls slated for September 15. NEC opened its doors to receive candidates on Monday.53 members of Parliament will be elected from different parties and individual candidates while other elections will be held by electoral colleges that will include women, youths and the disabled. The total number of MPs in the lower chamber of parliament is 80. Meanwhile, President Paul Kagame is expected to dissolve parliament today as prescribed in the constitution, which states that the House is dissolved at least one month to the run up to the elections. Ends