At the invitation of the National Electoral Commission of Rwanda, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Defence and Security of EASF Region, in accordance with the EASF Guidelines on Election Observer Mission, a team of 20 Short-Term EASF Election observers were deployed observe the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Rwanda.
The Mission was led by Amb. Kennedy Mokaya from the Republic of Kenya as the Head of Mission, assisted by Hon Moinaecha Mroudjae, the Vice chairperson of the EASF Panel of Elders, from the Union of Comoros, and, Mr. Ali Said Bacar from Comoros as the Deputy Head of Mission.
In a press conference held in Kigali on Wednesday, July 17, they noted that having interacted with various key stakeholders involved in the electoral process and witnessed the campaigns, voting, vote counting and tallying, they saw that:“the electoral, political and security environment in the Republic of Rwanda before, during and immediately after the elections has been calm and peaceful.”
Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca, the former Prime Minister of Cape Verde, who headed the joint AU-COMESA Election Observation Mission to Rwanda, praised the country for being one of the African countries that fully finance their polls, and praised the National Electoral for their professionalism and discretion without any interference into the electoral process.
“the electoral staff were competent and the electoral material available in sufficient quantity in all the polling stations visited by the Mission.”
David Maraga, the former Chief Justice of Kenya who headed the EAC Election Observation Mission, said:”the electoral process was conducted in a calm and peaceful environment that enabled the candidates to campaign freely.”
Finally, the counting procedures were also respected and verification of the votes done in the presence of all the stakeholder in all the 114 polling stations visited by EASF-EOM
Based on its overall observations and findings, the EASF-EOM concluded that the electoral process took place in an orderly, calm and transparent manner with respect for the rule of law. Based on its observations and findings, the EASF-EOM offers the following recommendations to improve future electoral processes in Rwanda
The National Electoral Commission late Tuesday announced partial results of the presidential elections in which Kagame, the candidate of the RPF-Inkotanyi coalition collected 99.15 percent votes, against Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana who got 0.53 percent and 0.32 percent, respectively.
The EASF Election Observer Mission will submit its final report to the National Electoral Commission in due time, with detailed finding and recommendations on its observation of the General Elections in Rwanda, And the NEC is set to announce provisional results no later than July 20, with final results expected by July 27.
Naomi Irakoze Mugaragu.
