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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

RWANDA: Government registers eight political parties ahead of polls

KIGALI, 15 July 2003 (IRIN) - The Rwandan government has registered eight political parties ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 August and 29 September respectively, a government minister told IRIN on Monday.

The minister for local government and social welfare, Christopher Bazivamo, said the registered parties were free to operate.

The parties registered so far include the Front patriotique rwandais (FPR), Parti liberal, Parti socio-democrate, Parti democrate ideal and Parti democrate centriste. Others are the Parti syndical rwandais, Union democratique du peuple rwandais and a new party, Parti du progres et de la concorde.

Bazivamo said that the political parties that were part of the transitional government were required to have registered with the ministry by 12 July. The parties were also required to harmonise their statutes with the recently promulgated national constitution.

However, he said the registration of new parties was still open. "They are free to register at any moment they feel like, even if it was in two years' time," he said.

Rwanda recently passed a new law on political parties, detailing how they were to carry out their activities at provincial and national levels.

As the presidential poll drew closer, incumbent President Paul Kagame became the first candidate to register with the country's electoral commission. The electoral body official declared Kagame, of the ruling Tutsi-dominated FPR, a presidential candidate.

Potential presidential contestants have until Friday to register with the National Electoral Commission. Former prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu, who has declared his intention to contest the presidency, told IRIN on Tuesday that he would register on Thursday as an independent candidate.

He had earlier announced his intention to form a new party after the government banned the Movement for a Democratic Republic, to which he belonged.

Four people, including Kagame, have declared interest in contesting the presidency in Rwanda's first post-genocide poll.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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