The voting for contestants for Miss Rwanda 2022 was opened to the public on Wednesday night. Guidelines explaining how contestants can be voted for have been all over social media since the poll was announced. This years voting is done through a USSD code, *544*1*[contestant number]#. The charge for one vote is Rwf 100, Rwf 500 for five votes, and Rwf 1000 for ten votes. Another option is to vote online at www.igihe.com or by scanning the QR codes on the contestants posts. The top two candidates with the most public votes will advance to the top 20 automatically. Besides this being a direct ticket to the boot camp for the two contestants with the highest votes, each contestant will receive a 20 percent portion of the money raised through public votes. The funds will be used to help them complete their projects. The New Times understands that Whatsapp groups have been formed by supporters of various contestants, to facilitate campaigning and financial contributions to vote for Miss Rwanda 2022 contestants. Additionally, a single person may vote multiple times. This will run until February 26, the same day as the pre-selection. Different people have criticized this because they believe it is a means to create inequality among the contestants. It means that the contestant who can get a large number of people to vote several times by paying the required amount of money has a better chance of winning. Many Rwandans believe this is unjust to the contestants who come from low-income backgrounds. Others have referred to this as a some sort of corruption that will be used by financially wealthy contestants to their advantage. One Lionel Nsize tweeted on Twitter, “What is the law governing these votes? If really Miss Rwanda is supposed to meet the criteria of culture, beauty, and brains, then, won’t someone get unfairly judged due to lack of money on her voters’ side. In my opinion, one should vote only once.” Sylvain Nibyimana also echoed the same sentiments, “One should vote only once = one vote. If someone can vote multiple times then it means the one with more money will be voted more than others. And this can be done by less than 10 people who vote many times! A reform is needed in Miss Rwanda selection procedures.” “In order to promote transparency and avoid inequality in elections, everyone should vote once and have one vote. The fact that a person can vote more than once, each vote requiring money, means that those who have more money are the ones who will have the most votes. Thats unfair,” tweeted one Emmanuel Ntirenganya. Despite the numerous criticisms that the voting procedure has received this year, the Rwanda Inspiration Backup, the body that oversees the Miss Rwanda Beauty Pageant, has yet to reveal anything. Voting, on the other hand, continues with Marie Merci Kazeneza leading with 11,110 votes. Sabine Isingizwe Mutabazwi comes in second with 10,299 votes, followed by Kella Ruzindana with 9,667 votes.
