Polling stations in the country will open at 7AM on Monday, July 15, in the presidential and parliamentary elections. Voting will be closed at 3PM, according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC). Vote counting will begin as soon as voting stops. ALSO READ: Prohibited activities in polling rooms There are three candidates for the Presidency: Paul Kagame of the RPF-Inkotanyi, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and Philippe Mpayimana, who is an independent. Up to 589 candidates are vying for 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Over nine million Rwandans registered to vote in the elections. Two million of them are first-time voters. According to NEC, there are about 2,600 polling stations, including 160 stations set up for Rwandans abroad. ALSO READ: Over 1,000 observers accredited for Rwanda’s elections Rwandans in the diaspora will go to the polls on Sunday, July 14, to vote for president and members of parliament. Rwandans in the country will vote on Monday. On Tuesday, representatives of special groups (women, youth and people with disabilities) will be elected by the electoral colleges. ALSO READ: EAC deploys 55 observers for Rwanda election Everything is in place for voting inside the country and abroad, according to NEC. On Friday, ballot papers and boxes and other voting materials were dispatched to the stations across the country. NEC has accredited more than 1,000 local and foreign election observers. The campaign period will be closed on Saturday, July 13.
