Rwandan parliamentary election, 2013

Rwandan parliamentary election, 2013

16 September 2013

First party Second party Third party   Party RPF PSD PL Seats before 36 7 4 Seats won 37 7 5 Seat change 1 - 1

Parliamentary elections were held in Rwanda between 16 and 18 September 2013.^[1] The result was a victory for the Rwandan Patriotic Front, which maintained its absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, winning 41 of the 80 seats.

Electoral system

Of the 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 53 were directly elected by closed list proportional representation with an electoral threshold of 5%. A further 27 seats were indirectly elected by local and national councils, including 24 reserved for women, two for representatives of youth and one for representatives of handicapped.^[2]

Conduct

In the weekend preceding the election, on 13 and 14 September, two grenades in a Kigali market. The Rwandan government blamed the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the remnants of the force responsible for the 1994 Genocide.^[2] Questions were asked about the credibility of the election as transparent, free and fair.^[3]

Voting was otherwise reported as orderly.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Rwandan Patriotic Front coalition	Rwandan Patriotic Front		76.22	37	+1
	Centrist Democratic Party			1	0
	Ideal Democratic Party			1	0
	Party for Progress and Concord			1	0
	Rwandan Socialist Party			1	0
Social Democratic Party			13.03	7	0
Liberal Party			9.29	5	+1
Social Party Imberakuri				0	New
Independents				0	0
Indirectly-elected members		–	–	27	–
Total		5,881,874	100	80	0
Registered voters/turnout		5,953,531	98.80	–	–
Source: IPU, All Africa

References

1. Rwanda: MPs' Nomination Scheduled for July All Africa, 6 June 2013
2. Rwandans vote in parliamentary elections Al Jazeera, 16 September 2013
3. Rwanda: A democracy in the making? Al Jazeera, 16 September 2013