Supreme Court to vet aspiring Senators

KIGALI - The National Electoral Commission (NEC) will today submit the names of candidates who registered to contest in next month’s senatorial elections to the Supreme Court for vetting. Charles Munyaneza, the NEC Executive Secretary disclosed in an interview with The New Times, that the commission has a total of 62 candidatures for the 14 elective seats. These include aspirants for seats representing the provinces in the country and Kigali City, and two representatives from public and private institutions of higher learning. “Names of candidates who registered to contest in the elections will be submitted to the Supreme Court tomorrow and we expect to get the feedback of the eligible candidates not later than August 29,” Munyaneza said in a telephone interview. Among the aspiring candidates, 19 females have expressed their interest in the senatorial elections scheduled for September 26 and 27. The registration which kicked off on August 1 ended on August 15. Of those who registered, 16 vied for the Southern Province slot, 15 in the Eastern, 11 in the Western, nine in Kigali city and five in the Northern Province. Five registered to represent public institutions of higher education while only one registered to represent private institutions of higher education. “This is the number of candidates we received, but it is possible some of those who registered might not qualify to contest, as per the Supreme Court vetting,” Munyaneza added. Of the 26 members of the Senate, only 14 will be elected. The President will nominate eight others while the Consultative Forum for Political Parties will nominate four. Two people will be elected in the Northern Province, one in Kigali City while three people will be elected in each of the other provinces. The number of Senators representing provinces is based on the number of registered voters in the constituencies, and the province with the highest number of voters gets highest number of seats in the Senate. The electoral colleges at the provincial level will be composed of district and sector councils while those representing universities will be composed of only permanent lecturers, who are Rwandan nationals and registered in their respective institutions.Election results will be announced on October 4. Ends