Tomorrow all roads will lead to the respective polling stations where every Rwandan will be able to vote the president of Rwanda for the next seven year presidential term. The exercise that will bring an end to the about three weeks of presidential campaigns where four candidates have been roaming the country conversing for votes is expected to begin voting will begin at 6am and end at 3pm. This is meant to give an insight into the after voting procedure which ends at the time when the final results are read as provided by the new law relating to elections N˚ 03/2010/ol OL of 18/06/2010. The counting of the votes according to the law is supposed to begin immediately after 3pm. Article 58 of the above mentioned law states: “Unless otherwise provide by this law, the process of vote counting starts immediately in each polling room, after the time for closure specified in this law. The act of counting of votes shall be openly carried out by the assessors, before the public, electoral observers and candidates representatives if present.” Persons responsible for counting the votes take the following steps and in order; • Determining the number of voters registered on the electoral list and announcing it; • Opening the ballot box in public, counting the ballot papers and announcing the number thereof. • One of the assessors gives an unfolded paper to a second assessor who reads it out in a loud voice. The third assessor records the vote on the ballot paper on another paper designed for that purpose and displayed in full view of every one present or any other device provided by NEC. • When all the ballot papers have been readout, the votes obtained by each candidate or list of candidates will be counted as well as invalid ballot papers. Voting room assessors shall approve and sign tally sheets. Signatures of polling agents shall be preceded by their full names and number of their voter’s cards. Representatives of candidates can also sign on the tally sheets, but this is not mandatory. • Members of the polling room committee shall consolidate all results after vote counting. • The coordinator of the polling room and other members shall prepare, without postponement, a statement on the conduct of elections on appropriate printed forms. • The coordinator of the polling room shall put the statement in an envelope sealed and stamped before the public at the polling room. The envelope shall be put in the ballot box of the polling room together with the valid and invalid ballot papers and given to the chairperson of the polling station. The process of consolidation of the election results At each level of consolidation of results, the coordinator of elections at that level shall consolidate the electoral results at the preceding level and shall communicate it to the members of the public present. Electoral results consolidation documents shall be displayed where elections take place. The format of documents and places they will be displayed has been determined by NEC. They shall be displayed at polling stations or at district headquarters. The chairperson of NEC will therefore carry out the consolidation of electoral results at the national level on the basis of the consolidated electoral documents at the district level. Announcing of electoral results and it timing The provisional and final electoral results is done by the NEC and is supposed to be done in a period not exceeding (5) days after closure of polls. NEC declares the final results in a period not exceeding seven days after declaring the provisional results. In case of contestation, the supreme court will shall definitely declare the electoral results. Petitions related to presidential elections According to Article 71 of the new electoral law, any petition relating to presidential and legislative election shall be submitted to the supreme court. However, no petition shall in any way, impede the progress of the electoral process except one relating to announcement of the final electoral results. Petitions relating to presidential elections may be filed with the supreme court in forty eight working hours following the announcement of provisional results by the NEC chairperson. The petition is filed with the supreme court president by means of a written letter with a copy to the NEC. The petition indicates the identity of the complainant and nature of complaint. Ends
