2018 Rwandan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Rwanda on 3 September 2018, ^[1] with Rwandan overseas voting the day before. ^[2] The result was a victory for the Rwandan Patriotic Front coalition, which won 40 of the 53 elected seats while losing its absolute majority over the total of seats, whilst the Democratic Green Party and Social Party Imberakuri both entered parliament for the first time. With 49 of the 80 seats in the newly elected parliament held by women (61%), ^[3] the elections maintained Rwanda's position as the country with the highest proportion of female MPs. ^[4]

Electoral system

The 80-seat Chamber of Deputies is elected by two methods: 53 seats are directly elected by closed list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with an electoral threshold of 5%; seats are allocated using the largest remainder method. ^[5] The remaining 27 seats are indirectly elected by local and national councils, including 24 reserved for women (six from Eastern, Southern and Western provinces, four from Northern Province and two from Kigali), ^[5] two for representatives of youth and one for representatives of the disabled. ^[6]

Results

Ernest Kamanzi and Clarisse Imaniriho were elected as the youth representatives, ^[7] whilst Eugene Mussolini was elected as the disabled representative. ^[8]

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	RPF Coalition		Rwandan Patriotic Front	4,926,366	73.95	36	–1
			Centrist Democratic Party			1	0
			Ideal Democratic Party			1	0
			Party for Progress and Concord			1	0
			Democratic Union of the Rwandan People			1	+1
			Rwandan Socialist Party			0	–1
	Social Democratic Party			586,215	8.80	5	–2
	Liberal Party			479,631	7.20	4	–1
	Social Party Imberakuri			304,231	4.57	2	+2
	Democratic Green Party of Rwanda			302,778	4.55	2	New
	Independents			62,293	0.94	0	0
Indirectly-elected members						27	0
Total				6,661,514	100.00	80	0
Valid votes				6,661,514	99.82
Invalid/blank votes				12,245	0.18
Total votes				6,673,759	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				7,172,612	93.05
Source: NEC, NEC

References

1. Legislative elections: Parties applaud peaceful process The New Times, 3 September 2018
2. Editorial: Go out and cast your vote! The New Times, 3 September 2018
3. Women to take 61 per cent of seats in the next Chamber of Deputies The New Times, 5 September 2018
4. Women in national parliaments IPU
5. Electoral system IPU
6. Rwandans vote in parliamentary elections Al Jazeera, 16 September 2013
7. Kamanzi, Maniriho are the youth representatives in Parliament The New Times, 5 September 2018
8. Elected MPs NEC