Polling stations for the legislative and presidential elections opened on July 15, 2024 at 5 a.m. UT in Rwanda (7 a.m. local time). A poll in which President Paul Kagame, who has led the country since 2000, is running for a fourth term. Nine million Rwandans are called to the polls. Details.
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More than a hundred people were present from 6:30 this morning, the time at which RFI’s special correspondent, Liza Fabbianarrived at a large polling station, set up in a school in Nyamirambo, a district of the capital of Rwanda.
Shortly before 7am, volunteers from the Rwandan Electoral Commission, all dressed in white t-shirts and black trousers, took the oath before taking up positions in the 19 classrooms opened for the vote.
The facility, like all other polling stations in the country, was decorated throughout the weekend with drapes in the colours of the Rwandan flag. Baskets and other traditional objects were set up to welcome voters.
The latter will place two ballots in two different boxes since, for the first time, the legislative and presidential elections are taking place on the same day in Rwanda: a harmonization of electoral deadlines enacted last year to save public money.
In Rubavu, people vote early before crossing the border with the DRC
In Rubavu, before 7am, in a polling station very close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), volunteers presented the empty ballot boxes before sealing them and welcoming the first arrivals, reports our special correspondent. Lucie Mouillaud.
Since then, the queues have been growing in a festive atmosphere, with music in the courtyard of this school. In each voting room, two voting booths decorated in the blue-yellow-green colours of the Rwandan flag: voters first cast their ballots for the presidential candidates, then those for the lists of the legislative elections voted on by proportional representation.
Here, many came early this morning to then go to work in Goma, in the DRC. The small barrier of one of the busiest border posts on the continent was very quiet when it opened at 6 a.m., many residents having first gone to vote before crossing. Getting through as early as possible is essential for all traders. Because, for two years and the security crisis in neighboring North Kivu linked to the M23 rebel group, the border closes at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, by decision of the Congolese authorities.
A limitation that has largely affected the economy here in Rubavu. Many voters also say they hope for an improvement in relations between the two countries and a return to the old border crossing rules.
As a reminder, Rwandans are voting this Monday for the presidential and legislative elections. President Paul Kagame, in power for 24 years, is running for a fourth term against two other candidates: Green Party MP Frank Habineza and independent Philippe Mpayimana.
Read alsoRwanda general elections: Kagame, Habineza and Mpayimana in the running for president, as in 2017