At stake in this election:

• 53 of the 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (Chambre des Députés)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Paul KAGAME
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Pierre HABUMUREMYI
• Assembly: Rwanda has a bicameral National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) consisting of the Senate (Sénat) with 26 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Chambre des Députés) with 80 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 7-year term.
• Prime Minister is appointed by the president.
• In the Senate (Sénat), 12 members are indirectly elected by regional governing councils to serve 8-year terms, 8 members are appointed by the President to serve 8-year terms, 4 members are appointed by the Political Organizations Forum to serve 8-year terms and 2 members are selected by Institutions of higher learning to serve 8-year terms*. In the Chamber of Deputies (Chambre des Députés), 53 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms and 27 members are indirectly elected by special interest groups to serve 5-year terms.**

* Thirty percent of all indirectly elected Senators must be female. 12 members are elected in accordance with the national administrative entities. 4 members are designated by the Political Organizations Forum, and 2 university lecturers, of at least the rank of Associate Professor or a researcher, are elected by the academic and research staff of public universities and institutions of higher learning. The eight members appointed by the President are chosen to represent historically marginalized communities.

** Party-lists can contain no more than 80 candidates. Twenty-seven members are indirectly elected. Twenty-four seats are reserved for women, two are elected by the National Youth Council, and one is elected by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Coalition: Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) / Front Patriotique Rwandais (FPR)*
  • Leader: Paul KAGAME
  • Seats won in last Chamber of Deputies election: 42
• Party: Social Democratic Party / Parti Social Démocrate (PSD)
  • Leader: Dr. Vincent BIRUTA
  • Seats won in last Chamber of Deputies election: 7
• Party: Liberal Party / Parti Libéral (PL)
  • Leader: Mitali PROTAIS
  • Seats won in last Chamber of Deputies election: 4
• Party: Social Party Imberakuri / Parti Social Imberakuri (PS Imberakuri)
  • Leader: Christine MUKABUNANI
  • Seats won in last Chamber of Deputies election: N/A

* The Rwanda Patriotic Front / Front Patriotique Rwandais leads an electoral coalition that also consists of the Centrist Democratic Party / Parti Democrate Centriste (PDC), the Party for Progress and Concord / Parti du Progrès et la Concorde (PPC), the Socialist Party / Parti Socialiste Rwandais, and the Ideal Democratic Party / Partie Democratie Ideal (PDI). On the candidate list for the RPF, the PDI, PSR, PPC, and PDC all have 2 candidates listed.

Last Parliamentary election:

• Elections are held over the course of three days. On September 16, voters will elect the 53 MPs standing on political party or individual tickets. On September 17, voters will elect the representatives for the youth and the disabled. Finally, on September 18, voters will elect the seats reserved for female candidates.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 11,078,095 (2013)
• Registered Voters: 5,953,351 (September 2013)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 5,780,024 (2013)

·         Is Rwanda a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (1 May 1980)

·         Has Rwanda ratified CEDAW: Yes(2 March 1981)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 51 (Chamber of Deputies); 10 (Senate)

·         Human Development Index Position: 163 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Rwanda a signatory to CRPD: No

·         Has Rwanda ratified CRPD: Yes, accession (15 December 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 1,661,714 (est.)