Rwanda: an opposition party enters parliament

In Rwanda, as expected, the RPF clearly wins the legislative elections.

According to preliminary results, the presidential party obtains 74% of the votes, it obtains 40 of the 53 seats submitted to the vote of 7 million voters. The only surprise is the entry into Parliament of the only opposition party tolerated by the power, the Green Democratic Party of Franck Habineza.

It’s a little revenge for this former RPF member. In August 2017, he obtained only 0.48% of the votes in the presidential election; A year later, his party, the Green Democratic Party, achieved a much better score, winning 5% of the vote, the minimum required to enter Parliament.

The party wins two seats in the lower house. “It’s a sign that Rwanda is opening up its political spectrum,” said Paul Kagame’s moderate critic, Franck Habineza, who never directly criticized the head of state because of the heavy penalties provided for by law on defamation against the president.

The entry of his party in Parliament does not however question the hegemony of the presidential party, the RPF not surprisingly won the vote with 74% of the vote and 40 seats to the key, one less than the previous legislature. The Social Democrat party gets him five seats, as opposed to four for the Liberal party, two parties allied to the RPF.

The last 27 seats are allocated by quotas to women, youth and people with disabilities. Once again, women will be a clear majority in the future assembly, they will be 49 out of the 80 deputies in the lower house. The final results of these legislative elections will be known on September 16th.