No wonder the FPR-Inkotanyi party, along with its allied parties have already started celebrating and thanking Rwandans who voted for their Presidential candidate Paul Kagame with an overwhelming majority of 99.18 percent. The same RPF won 68.83 percent of the parliamentary vote.
Going by the results, it’s very clear that Kagame will soon be sworn in as the next president and his party will have the majority membership in Parliament.
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, the Ideal Democratic Party and PS-Imberakuri, which had initially secured at least five per cent of the votes in the parliamentary elections saw their results reduce.
5% is the threshold and Constitutional requirement to get seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Does that mean that the three parties had been voted out of Parliament?
Ordinarily, there are 80 seats in the Rwandan Parliament.
27 of them are reserved for quotas for special groups (24 women, 2 for youth and 1 for people with disabilities).
The remaining 53 representatives are elected through direct suffrage, with candidates from political parties and independents vying for the seats.
Since the only independent parliamentary candidate in the 2024 election could not get the minimum requirement to get a seat, the 53 seats will be shared by the parties.
With over 68 per cent, the RPF coalition, which includes PPC, PSR, PDC, PSP and UDPR, is assured of at least 37 seats. The Liberal Party (8.66 percent) and the Social Democratic Party (8.62 percent) could get five seats each. So who takes the remaining 6 slots?
According to NEC Executive Secretary Charles Munyaneza, Green Party, PDI and PS-Imberakuri could still get seats in Parliament, given that each of the party’s share of votes might be rounded off.
'Although some of the parties got 4.5 per cent or 4.6 per cent, that does not mean that they fell short of the required five per cent,' Munyaneza told the media earlier this week.
'When we have percentages like these, we round them to the nearest whole number, which is five in this case.' He said.
Therefore, he said, the three parties could still get a share in the 53 contestable seats in Parliament.
As per the available provisional results, it means that if the percentages of Green Party, PDI and PS-Imberakuri are rounded to 5, then they will get two seats each.
In the last Legislature, Green Party and PS-Imberakuri had two seats each. PDI, which was part of the RPF coalition, had one seat.
As the country awaits NEC to release the final results of the parliamentary elections by July 27, what do political parties have to say?
It was a double win for us- Liberal Party
PL received 8.66% of the votes, placing them second after FPR-Inkotanyi and are assured of 5 seats in the next Parliament.
The Party President Donatille Mukabalisa says that it is a double win for them given that the Presidential candidate of their preference also won.
She told IGIHE that the victory signifies their commitment to jointly work hard to achieve Rwanda’s development goals swiftly.
Mukabalisa, who is Former Speaker of the outgoing Parliament credited their success to thorough preparation and unity among PL members, which allowed them to reach many Rwandans in the shortest time possible.
We shall continue our cooperation with President Kagame- PSD
PSD received 8.62% of the votes guaranteeing five seats for them too.
In a statement released this week, PSD’s leadership expressed their delight in President Paul Kagame’s re-election, thanking Rwandans for voting for to enable them secur their representation in Parliament.
'PSD assures the nation of our full cooperation with President Kagame in building Rwanda based on democracy and development that benefits all Rwandans,' the statement said.
PDI aimed for 5% – Sheikh Harerimana
The Ideal Democratic Party (PDI), which supported the FPR-Inkotanyi presidential candidate, ran independently for parliamentary seats but aligned with FPR-Inkotanyi’s policies.
In an exclusive interview with IGIHE, PDI President Sheikh Musa Fazil Harerimana stated that the votes they received were what they had hoped for, even though they aimed for a full 5%.
“We were aiming for 5%. That way, we could be assured of two seats. It was challenging, but it shows that we explained our agenda well to the people,' he said.
Harerimana reasoned that it was PDI’s first time competing independently in parliamentary elections because previously they partnered with FPR-Inkotanyi. A partnership, he says, has strengthened PDI, and they plan to continue this collaboration in the future.
We fell short of our expectation- PS Imberakuri
PS Imberakuri party leader Christine Mukabunani says that the results were way below their expectations.
“The level we won at is not what we anticipated. Considering our efforts and discussions with citizens, we thought we would do much better, but we appreciate the votes we received. We thank the citizens for their trust.” She said in an interview.
Mukabunani noted that they expected at least 10% of the votes and found it challenging to pinpoint the exact reason they fell short, acknowledging the need to multiply efforts in the future to improve their performance.
DGPR missing out in Parliament is not a big deal- Dr. Frank Habineza
After securing only 0.53% of the Presidential votes, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda President Dr. Frank Habineza says that he is not bothered with losing out on representation in parliament.
Dr. Frank Habineza, a former Member of Parliament, has confirmed that he will not return to Parliament as a representative of the Green Party, as he was not on the party’s list of parliamentary candidates.
However, he says, this would not change his party’s agenda of continuing to advocate for the people, promoting good governance and democracy, and ensuring everyone’s participation in decisions that affect them.
President Paul Kagame during the recent campaign rally.
