Rwanda registers 9.5m voters for July elections

Rwanda registered 9.5 million eligible voters in the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for July 15, the country’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) said on Thursday.

NEC Chairperson, Oda Gasinzigwa, revealed this figure during a press conference in Kigali.

Gasinzigwa said about two million of these people are first-time voters.

The NEC noted a significant increase in registration among Rwandans in the diaspora. About 53,000 registered for the upcoming elections.

This is a notable rise from the 21,000 registered in the 2017 election cycle.

Gasinzigwa said the electoral body has received eight independent presidential aspirants and 41 independent parliamentary hopefuls.

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Rwanda’s ruling party re-elects Kagame as leader

Formal candidature submissions will begin on Friday.

The ruling party, Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), earlier this year, nominated incumbent President Paul Kagame as its presidential candidate.

This is following his landslide victory with 99.1 per cent of the vote during the party’s congress in March.

In previous elections, about 6.8 million Rwandans participated in the 2017 presidential elections, followed by 8.1 million in the 2018 parliamentary elections. (Xinhua)